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.V 




FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE FRENCH COURT. 

From the French of Imbert de Saint-Amand. 

Each with Portrait, l2mo, $i.2s. 

THREE VOLUMES ON MARIE ANTOINETTE. 

MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE END OF THE OLD RE'GIME. 

MARIE ANTOINETTE AT THE TUILERIES. 

MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE DOWNFALL OF ROYALTY. 

THREE VOLUMES ON THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 

CITIZENESS BONAPARTE. 

THE WIFE OF THE FIRST CONSUL. 

THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 

FOUR VOLUMES ON THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE. 
THE HAPPY DAYS OF MARIE LOUISE. 
MARIE LOUISE AND THE DECADENCE OF THE EMPIRE. 
MARIE LOUISE AND THE INVASION OF 1814. 
MARIE LOUISE, THE RETURN FROM ELBA, AND THE HUNDRED DAYS. 

TWO VOLUMES ON THE DUCHESS OF ANGOULEME. 

THE YOUTH OF THE DUCHESS OF ANGOULEME. 

THE DUCHESS OF ANGOULEME AND THE TWO RESTORATIONS. 

THREE VOLUMES ON THE DUCHESS OF BERRY. 

THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE COURT OF LOUIS XVIII. 

THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE COURT OF CHARLES X. (In Press.) 

THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE REVOLUTION OF JULY, 1830. (In Press.) 



THE 



Duchess of Berry 



COURT OF LOUIS XVIII 



BY 

IMBERT DE SAINT-AMAND 

TRANSLATED BY 

ELIZABETH GILBERT MARTIN 



WITH PORTRAIT 



/ - s^^^«/«, 



NEW YORK ^ ''f'/'^o;,,.,:,.^ 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS ^yid"^ K 
1892 



f^-/j 



/- 






THB LlfRAay 
or COifOJRBtS 

WASHINGTON 



COrVRIGHT, 1892, BY 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I, Childhood 1 

II. The Marriage by Proxy 13 

III. The Departure from Naples. : 21 

IV. The Lazaretto of Marseilles 29 

V. Entering Marseilles 42 

VI. FRoai Marseilles to Fontainebleau 48 

VII. Fontainebleau 59 

VIII. The Entry into Paris 68 

IX. The Marriage 77 

X. The Early Days of Marriage 83 

XI. The Tuileries 89 

XII. The Elysee 90 

XIII. The First Sorrow 102 

XIV. 1818 Ill 

XV. 1819 121 

XVI. Count Decazes 132 

XVII. The Duke of Berry 139 

XVIII. LouvEL , 146 

V 



vi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIX. The Murder of the Duke of Berry 155 

XX. The Day after the Murder 171 

XXI. The Obsequies of the Duke of Berry 185 

XXII. The Widow 192 

XXIII. The Birth of the Duke of Bordeaux 205 

XXIV. The Rejoicings 219 

XXV. Chambord 229 

XXVI. The Baptism of the Duke of Bordeaux 239 

XXVII. The Countess of Cayla 256 

XXVIII. The End of the Reign 266 

XXIX. The Death of Louis XVIII 283 



THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



AND THE 



Court of Louis XVlll 



THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE 
COURT OF LOUIS XVlll 



CHILDHOOD 

MARIE CAEOLINE FERDINANDS LOUISE 
DE BOURBON, the future Duchess of Berry, 
was born November 5, 1798. Her parents were 
Francis, Duke of Calabria, hereditary Prince of the 
Two Sicilies (son of King Ferdinand IV. and Queen 
Marie Caroline), and the Archduchess Marie Clemen- 
tine, daughter of the Emperor Leopold II. The 
Bourbons were no longer reigning in France at the 
time of her birth, although they continued to do so 
in Spain and the Two Sicilies. Two direct descen- 
dants of Louis XIV., Charles IV. and Ferdinand 
IV., occupied respectively the thrones of Madrid and 
of Naples. Both of them were grandsons of Philip 
V. of Spain, that French Prince who, when he 
ascended the throne of Charles V., had caused his 
grandfather, the Sun-King, to say: "There are no 
more Pyrenees." 

1 



THE DUCHESS OF BEERY 



In 1735, Philip V. had endowed his second son, 
Don Carlos, with the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. 
He reigned at Naples until, in consequence of the 
death of his elder brother, Ferdinand VI., who had 
succeeded Philip V., he inherited the throne of 
Spain, and assumed the title of Charles III. Be- 
fore departing for his new dominions, he invested 
his young son, Ferdinand, with the crown of the 
Two Sicilies, October 6, 1759. As he transferred 
to him the sword which Philip V. had received 
from Louis XIV., he said: "Preserve it for the 
defence of religion and thy people." 

The new King, who was only eight years old, took 
the name of Ferdinand IV. On April 7, 1768, he 
married a daughter of the great Empress Maria 
Theresa, and a sister of Marie Antoinette: the 
Archduchess Marie Caroline. 

Between 1772 and 1793 Marie Caroline had no 
fewer than eighteen children, of whom only six sur- 
vived. One of these was Francis, Duke of Calabria, 
hereditary Prince of the Two Sicilies, born August 
19, 1777. On September 19, 1790, this Prince married 
his cousin-german, the Archduchess Marie Clemen- 
tine, daughter of the Emperor Leopold II., niece of 
Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, and of Marie 
Caroline, Queen of Naples. The Duchess of Berry 
sprang from this marriage which united the Bour- 
bons to the Hapsburghs. Under the title, "An 
Epitome of the Events of my Life from my Birth 
until my Marriage," she wrote a journal which she 



CHILDHOOn 



presented to General Dernoncourt, wlio gave it to the 
celebrated novelist, Alexandre Dumas. Our own 
acquaintance with this })recious manuscript is due to 
the courtesy of our friend, Alexandre Dumas fils. 

At the time when the Princess came into the 
world, Naples and Sicily were in a profoundly 
disturbed condition. A bitter strife was raging 
between the partisans and the adversaries of the 
French Revolution. Deeply irritated against the 
men and things of 1793, agonized by the executions 
of her sister and her brother-in-law, and feeling a 
religious devotion, almost amounting to fanaticism, 
for the ancient principles, Marie Caroline, wdiose 
hates and loves were alike prodigious in their vio- 
lence, fought relentlessly against the liberal move- 
ment. Upheld by the English Admiral Nelson, and 
swayed by the influence of the too-famous Lady 
Hamilton, the admiral's mistress and the wife of 
the English ambassador to Naples, she struggled 
against the new ideas with a stubbornness that bor- 
dered on frenzy. At the close of 1798, however, 
she was obliged to flee before the Revolution, with 
the King and the royal family. She sought shelter 
on an English vessel, the Vanguard., which carried her 
from Naples to Palermo. A frightful storm broke 
out during the voyage, and the Queen lost her 
youngest son, a boy of seven years. " We are all 
going to rejoin him at once," cried she, in a paroxysm 
of fear and grief. The ship which contained the 
future Duchess of Berry, then not quite two months 



THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



old, had one of its masts broken and was tossed 
about on a troubled sea for five days before entering 
the harbor of Palermo. 

The Neapolitan republic was proclaimed, but was 
of brief duration. Cardinal Fabrice Ruffo, that 
warlike prelate who boasted of employing the keys 
of Saint Peter and the sword of Saint Paul by turns, 
re-conquered Naples for the King in June, 1799, and 
entered the capital in triumph. A bloody reaction 
at once set in. The most distinguished personages 
were sent to the scaffold, and " one hardly calumni- 
ates this frightful epoch," says Baron Louis de Viel- 
Castel, "by comparing it to the Terror of 1793." 

Marie Clementine, wife of the Prince-royal and 
mother of the future Duchess of Berry, had a kind 
and generous soul. She shuddered at the horrors 
that Avere taking place. Among the victims sen- 
tenced to death was a pregnant woman, Luigia San- 
felice, who inspired her with profound pity. This 
was in August, 1800. The Princess had just borne 
a son who had received the name of Ferdinand, and, 
in virtue of a very ancient custom existing in vari- 
ous royal families, she was thereby entitled to ask 
three favors from the sovereign. In order the better 
to assure the success of her application, she united 
all three into one, — a petition for the pardon of the 
wretched Sanfelice. King Ferdinand was inflexi- 
ble, and the victim was beheaded directly after her 
confinement. This horrible tragedy filled Marie 
Clementine with consternation, and from that time 



CHILD riOOD 



she pined away. Her son died the same year. She 
herself was attacked by a cold which developed into 
lung disease, of which she died, November IG, 1801. 
Marie Caroline, who was tender and affectionate in 
her family, though cruel where politics were con- 
cerned, wrote as follows to Lady Hamilton, on 
December 6 : — 

" Of course you have heard of the frightful mis- 
fortune I have had in losing my dear, good daugh- 
ter-in-law. This destroys the only comfort I had 
left, — that of perfect domestic union and harmony. 
She died like a saint, the dear and good Princess, 
and her husband is in the depths of despair. My 
poor children do nothing but weep for their sister- 
in-law, who was a tender sister to them, and who, 
after my death (which cannot be far off, considering 
my pains and troubles), would have been like their 
mother." 

The Duchess of Berry was then only four years 
old. In her journal she devotes these touching lines 
to the mother so soon removed from her by God : — 

"I was then too young to be able to remember 
her; but I have found ineffaceable souvenirs of her 
in the hearts of all who were so happy as to be near 
her and admire her virtues. May Heaven grant to 
her prayers the favor I beg of laboring to merit her 
virtues, her enlightened piety, her beneficence ; in a 
word, all that deepens my regret for not having 
known her! How I would have cherished her! So 
I judge from the sentiments I experience for her 



6 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

whom Heaven has given me as a second and affec- 
tionate mother, in the person of S. A. R. the Infanta 
Marie Isabelle of Spain, whose kindness to me is 
unfailinof." 

This Infanta was the daughter of Charles IV., 
King of Spain. She became the second wife of the 
father of the Duchess of Berry, July 6, 1802. 

The Duchess of Berry had just entered her eighth 
year when, on January 23, 1806, her family were 
for the second time obliged to fly from Naples and 
take refuge in Sicily. Napoleon had written, in a 
violent bulletin : — 

"I send General Saint-Cyr to j^unish the treasons 
of the Queen of Naples, and to cast from the throne 
that guilty Avoman who has so often and with so 
much effrontery profaned every law, human and 
divine. The Bourbons of Naples have ceased to 
reign, thanks to the latest perfidy of the Queen. 
Let her be off to London, then, to complete the num- 
ber of brigands ! " 

The throne of Naples was occupied by Joseph 
Bonaparte until 1808, and by Murat from 1808 until 
1815, Ferdinand, meanwhile, reigning only in Sicily, 
under the protectorate, say rather the tyranny, of the 
English. Thus, from her very infancy, the Duchess 
of Berry had known all the trials and vicissitudes of 
politics. 

"Born in an epoch of troubles and revolutions," 
says the eloquent historian, M. Alfred Nettement, 
"her first impressions were grave and serious. Her 



CIIILDIIOOI) 



ears were accustomed early to the noises of war, the 
ominous pealing of bells, the thunder of cannons, 
and the clamor of the populace, as well as to the 
roaring of tempestuous seas. Thus her childhood 
had served an apprenticeship which her youth was to 
find advantageous. Later, when she had to cross 
the ocean and the Mediterranean, when she was 
obliged to brave every danger, endure all fatigues, 
and lead the life of battle-fields, that vigorous soul 
which had been tempered in her childhood came 
anew to her aid, and in danger she recognized the 
familiar companion of her earliest years." 

From her infancy the Duchess of Berry had given 
promise of quick intelligence and a sympathetic 
character. The German biographer of Queen Marie 
Caroline, Helfert, says concerning the little Prin- 
cess : — ■ 

" Many hopes were entertained of her ; her consti- 
tution was good, she was full of gaiety, and had a 
broad mind and generous heart." 

Her education was conducted with great care, and 
she was very early taught to love the arts. Among 
those who instructed her, she praises especially in 
her journal her governess, the Countess of La Tour, 
and a prelate called Olivieri : — 

"I habitually received," she says, "the tenderest 
care from all my family. The Queen lavished con- 
tinual attentions on me, for which I shall be eternally 
grateful." 

The Duchess of Berry was ten years old when she 



THE DUCHESS OF BERET 



first saw a man who was to be fatal to her, — • the Duke 
of Orleans, Louis Philippe. This was towards the 
middle of 1808. The young Princess was with her 
grandmother. Queen Marie Caroline, when she saAV 
King Ferdinand enter suddenly, looking perplexed 
and agitated. "Here," said he, holding an open 
letter in his hand, " is an exile belonging to a great 
family who is hounded by misfortune, for he has just 
lost his only surviving brother at Malta. He has 
landed at Messina. Would it displease you if I 
were to invite him to my court?" 

" What is his name ? " asked the Queen. 

"The Duke of Orleans," replied the King. 

At these words the little Princess experienced a 
keen emotion; it was as if she had foreseen the 
future. But this painful impression soon passed 
away. The Duke of Orleans had written to the 
King : — 

" Sire, the greater the faults of my father were, the 
more am I bound to prove that I do not share his 
aberrations; they have done too much harm to my 
family." 

The exiled Prince received a courteous welcome 
and magnificent hospitality at the court of Palermo. 
There he made a conquest of one of the King's 
daughters, Marie Am^lie, born April 26, 1782, 
whom he married at Palermo, November 25, 1809. 
The future Duchess of Berry and the future Queen 
of France were on mutually friendly terms. They 
lived near each other until July 27, 1814, when 



CHILDHOOD 9 



Marie Amelio left Palermo to rejoin lier husband at 
the court of King Louis XVIII. 

At Palermo, the palazzo Orleans was a centre of 
liberal opposition, as the Palais Koyal was afterwards 
to be at Paris. In his remarkable and consci- 
entious Vie de Marie-Amelie^ M. Trognon relates 
that Queen Mari© Caroline said to her daughter, 
apropos of the Duke of Orleans : — 

" Since I was stupid enough to take him for my 
son-in-laAv, I must put up with him as your husband 
and the father of your child " (the Duke of Chartres, 
afterwards Duke of Orleans, born at Palermo, Sep- 
tember 3, 1810). "But he ought to be convinced 
that legitimate authority always succeeds in the end, 
and that it is necessary to remain attached to it." 

Exasperated by the yoke of the English, Marie 
Caroline now detested them as much as she had 
loved them at the beginning of her political career. 
They inspired her with such horror that she ended 
by preferring Napoleon, and in her distress she 
sought the aid of her former persecutor and warned 
him of the approaching defection of Murat. Lord 
Bentinck, who had occupied Palermo with twelve 
thousand English soldiers of all arms, acted like 
a veritable proconsul in Sicily. He required the 
departure of Marie Caroline, and on June 15, 1813, 
the unhappy Queen left like an outlaw, never to 
return. The future Duchess of Berry loved her 
grandmotlier tenderly, and it was with profound 
grief that she saw her depart. She was then four- 



10 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

teen, but in spite of lier youth she understood how 
cruel were. the humiliations and the exile inflicted 
on the energetic and unfortunate sovereign. 

Some years later, in Paris under the Restoration, 
the Duchess of Berry was paying a visit to her aunt, 
Marie Amelie, at the Palais Royal. Perceiving 
Lord Bentinck, she started violently and went away 
at once, without a word. The next day, in church, 
her aunt having inquired the reason of her brusque 
departure, she replied : — 

" I could not look on coolly while such a cordial 
welcome was given to a man whom I consider your 
mother's murderer." 

Queen Marie Caroline's last days were profoundly 
sad. After a perilous journey of more than seven 
months she reached Vienna, where she had asked an 
asylum from the Emperor Francis, who had been her 
son-in-law. One of her daughters. Princess Marie 
Th^rese (born June 6, 1772; married September 19, 
1700; died April 13, 1807), was the second wife of 
this sovereign, and the mother of the Empress Marie 
Louise (hence the Duchess of Berry was the cousin 
of the King of Rome). The Congress of Vienna 
was sitting, and Marie Caroline did not receive the 
welcome she expected from her former son-in-law. 
At this time the Austrian court was still in favor of 
Murat, and the daughter of the great Empress Maria 
Theresa vainly claimed the restitution of the King- 
dom of Naples. In her affliction, she wrote to her 
daughter, the Duchess of Genevois, afterwards Queen 
of Sardinia:^ 



CHILDHOOD 11 



" Nothing on earth moves me any more ; my fate 
was settled and decided the day that I was chased 
like a play-actress and thrust out of Sicily. . . . 
My life is ended in this world. ... I am no 
longer interesting except to a few old women who 
never stir out of their own doors, but who come to 
see the last of the great Maria Theresa's children. 
The Prater is in its lovely green and full of flowers ; 
but nothing seems beautiful to me any longer." 

A few days later — during the night of September 
7-8, 181-4 — the old Queen died of a sudden attack of 
apo})lexy in the little chateau of Hetzendorf, beside 
Schonbrunn, where her great-grandson, the former 
King of Rome, was living. Marie Caroline had been 
a woman whose faults and whose qualities were alike 
extraordinary. Napoleon, who once used such vio- 
lent and insulting language respecting her, ended by 
citing her as a model worth imitating in his corre- 
spondence with King Joseph. "That woman," he 
wrote to his brother, "knew how to think and act 
like a queen, while preserving her rights and her 
dignity." 

The Duchess of Berry lamented her grandmother 
deeply. She says in her journal: "The Queen's 
death, in 1814, affected me keenly. In her I lost a 
support, a mother, and I still regret not having been 
able to attend upon her." 

Eight months after the death of Queen Marie 
Caroline, her husband recovered the Kingdom of 
Naples. This restoration, far from being sullied by 



12 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

such excesses as those of 1799, was arranged by com- 
promise, and Mnrat's generals were treated with the 
same benevolence by King Ferdinand as those of 
Napoleon were by Louis XVIII. Fortune smiled at 
the same time on the Bourbons of Naples and the 
Bourbons of France. 



II 



THE MARRIAGE BY PROXY 



THE Duchess of Berry had been a lovable and 
pretty child. She became a graceful and sym- 
pathetic young girl. Without being beautiful she 
was nevertheless very pleasing. The Countess of 
Agoult (Daniel Stern) portrays her thus : " She was 
not regularly handsome, her features were not at all 
remarkable, her glance was wavering, her lips thick 
and almost always open. She carried herself badly, 
and the best-disposed observer could not call her 
bearing noble. But this blonde Neapolitan had her 
own charm, a marvellous splendor of coloring, silky 
fair hair, the loveliest arms in the world, and feet 
which, in spite of being pigeon-toed, were nice to 
look at, so small and well-made were they." In 
mind she was still more charming than in body. 
Engaging and benevolent, kindly to every one, pious, 
but not aggressively so, proud of her origin, yet as 
polite, as amiable, to a poor man as to a great lord, 
easily amused, and always disposed to see the good 
side of things, a southern nature, enlightened, and 
vivified by the brilliant sun of Italy, she enjoyed 
mere living, and looked to\vards the future with con- 

13 



14 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

ficlent and joyous eyes. From a political point of 
view, her infancy had been a sort of prologue to her 
destiny. She who was to be the victim of revolu- 
tions at every period of her life, had been condemned 
from her cradle to a series of portentous misfortunes. 
But, far from being affected by them, she had always 
felt persuaded that a brilliant destiny was reserved 
for her. Her romantic imagination was excited by 
the recital of the glories and the misfortunes of the 
house of Bourbon. As valiant as her ancestor, 
Henri IV., she was to live in an epoch as troublous 
as that of the B Jamais, and, like him, to preserve a 
truly prodigious ardor, boldness, and gaiety in the 
midst of the most terrible crises and the greatest 
dangers. Her grandfather. King Ferdinand, who 
greatly preferred the society of the lazzaroni to that 
of the best born personages of his kingdom, and who 
amused himself by selling the produce of his fishing 
expeditions on the docks, had accustomed her to 
familiarity with the bourgeois, the peasants, and the 
common people. The etiquette of the Sicilian court 
did not resemble the grave and gloomy solemnity of 
that of Spain, and there was nothing severe or sombre 
about the palaces of Naples and Palermo. 

Nearly the whole existence of the young Princess 
had been passed in the picturesque and charming 
island of Sicily, which rises from the sea like a 
basket of perfumes and flowers. After the begin- 
ning of 1806 she did not return to Naples, but 
always resided either in Palermo or its environs. 



THE MARRIAGE BY PROXY 15 

She extremely liked the Sicilian capital, that half- 
Arabian, half-Italian city which has so much origin- 
ality and so much charm. She loved the Palazzo 
Beale, which was begun by Robert Guiscard and 
which was at first a fortress. She loved the Palatine 
chapel which, with its Arabian arches, its granite 
columns, its walls covered with mosaics on a gold 
background, is perhaps the most beautiful chapel in 
the world. She loved the cathedral, consecrated to 
Saint Rosalie, the patroness of the Palermitans, who 
annually celebrate her feast with great piety and 
splendor. 

The young Princess was at Palermo when she 
learned that the Duke of Berry had asked for her 
hand. She wrote in her journal on this subject : — 

"It was in January, 1816, that my father first 
acquainted me with the projects of marriage formed 
by the royal family of France, and proposed to the 
King, my august grandfather, who was left absolute 
master of his determinations. The same liberty Avas 
accorded to me by that tender father. I made no 
use of it except to conform myself with pleasure and 
confidence to whatever my dear parents should desire. 
Count de Blacas came from Naples to Palermo in 
February. His presence, and the conversation, which 
related to the subject of my marriage and my jour- 
ney, caused me an embarrassment and timidity I had 
never experienced before." 

The young Neapolitan spoke French as well as 
Italian, and from her infancy had been accustomed 



16 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

to consider France, the cradle of her ancestors, as a 
second fatherhind. She was greatly pleased with the 
marriage proposed to her, and it was not without 
pleasurable emotions that she received from the 
Duke of Berry this really charming letter: — 

" Paris, 18 February, 1816. 

"Madame, my Sister and Cousin, — I have long 
desired to obtain the consent of the King your 
grandfather, and the Prince your father, to make a 
request on which hangs the happiness of my life ; 
but, before obtaining their approval, I come to Your 
Royal Highness to entreat that you will deign to 
confide the happiness of jouv life to me by consent- 
ing to our union. I dare flatter myself that age, 
experience, and long adversity have disciplined me 
sufficiently to render me worthy to be your husband, 
guide, and friend. On leaving parents so worthy of 
your love, you will find here a family which will 
remind you of patriarchal times. What can I tell 
you about the King, my father, my brother, and 
above all, about that angel, Madame, the Duchess of 
Angouleme, that you have not heard already, unless 
it be that their virtues and goodness are above all 
possible praise? The most intimate union prevails 
amongst us, and is never disturbed; all my relatives 
impatiently desire that Your Royal Highness should 
crown my wishes and consent to augment the num- 
ber of the children of our family. Deign, Madame, 
to yield to my prayers and to hasten the moment 



THE MARRIAGE BY PROXY 17 

when I can lay at yonr feet tlie liomage of the 

respectful and tender sentiments with which I am, 

" Madame, my Sister and Cousin, of Your Royal 

Highness the very affectionate brother and 

cousin, ,.^ ,^ ,, 

"Charles Ferdinand. 

After obtaining the approval of the Princess at 
Palermo, Count de Blacas returned to Naples and 
laid before the King a formal proposal which was 
accepted. We read as follows in the journal of the 
Duchess of Berry: — 

" I started for Naples, April 2, 1816, on the frigate 
Sirena, commanded by dear Barone. The squadron 
comprised thirteen different vessels of war, all 
under the orders of Ignazio Statti. We had stormy 
weather on the 3d, which caused us to make good 
time, but from which we suffered greatly. The 4th 
we sighted the islands of Ischia and Capri; but 
the calm which set in prevented us from passing 
them and from entering the Bay of Naples until 
early in the morning of the 6th. The weather was 
superb and gratified my curiosity to see the city of 
Naples and its environs plainly. I was greatly 
pleased with the enchanting spectacle that met my 
vicAV. I was much more so to see my uncle Leopold, 
who came on board the frigate by eight o'clock in the 
mornino^. We landed with him and went straiofht 
to the palace to find His Majesty, who was still 
somewhat indisposed. We saw people all day long. 
The 7th the weather Avas very bad, and prevented us 



18 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

from going out until afternoon, when we visited the 
Portici palace and garden." 

The Princess, who had but a vague recollection of 
the curiosities of Naples and its environs, beheld 
these marvels anew with extreme pleasure. She 
loved the arts and knew how to appreciate all that is 
beautiful. Here are some extracts from her jour- 
nal: — • 

" The 9th we took a walk after dinner in the Villa 
Reale public garden. 

" The 11th I received the Easter sacraments with my 
dear parents. Afterwards we heard Mass in the royal 
chapel. After dinner we visited seven churches, 
the crowd accompanying us everywhere. On our 
return we listened to the sermon on the Passion by 
Pere Gale, preacher to the King. The 12th we were 
present at the morning and evening offices in the 
royal chapel. The morning of the 13th, Count de 
Blacas brought my father the portrait of Mgr. the 
Duke of Berry, to let us see it before presenting it 
in due form. After dinner we walked to the royal 
residence of Capo di Monte. The 14th, Easter Sun- 
day, there was a drawing-room at the palace, and 
after dinner a walk to Pausilippo." 

On the following day, April 15, 1816, the mar- 
riage contract was signed. The third article of it 
was thus expressed : — 

" His Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies gives 
as dowry to the Most Serene Princess his grand- 
daughter the sum of one hundi-ed and twenty thou- 



THE MAR EI AGE BY PEOXT 19 

sand Neapolitan ducats, or five hundred thousand 
francs, payable in eighteen months, which sum the 
said Princess may use and dispose of according to the 
laws and customs of France. The said sum of one 
hundred and twenty thousand Neapolitan ducats, or 
five hundred thousand francs, is independent of 
another sum, likewise of one hundred and twenty 
thousand Neapolitan ducats, or two hundred thou- 
sand florins, Avhich comes to her from the dowry of 
her mother. Princess Marie Clementine of Austria, 
of whom she is the sole and only heir, which sum, as 
well as the interest due from S. M. the Emperor of 
Austria, not forming part of the dowry of the Most 
Serene spouse, she can use and dispose of as her pri- 
vate property. . . . 

"Article 5. — In addition to the said dowry, S. M. 
the King of the Two Sicilies makes a present to the 
Most Serene Princess Caroline Ferdinande Louise, 
of rings and jewels worth five hundred thousand 
Neapolitan ducats . ' ' 

Let us return to the journal of the Princess : — 
"On the 16th, Count de Blacas came before his 
dinner to present the portrait of Mgr. the Duke of 
Berry with all the usual formalities. I was sensibly 
touched by the nobility of his discourse and the sen- 
timents he knew so well how to express. Not being 
able to reply to him, I intend to show him my grati- 
tude and my sensibility on the first occasion I have 
to see him. From this moment France becomes 
dearer to me, and I promise myself to divide my 



20 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

affections between my own family and tliat which I 
have the happiness to enter. 

"The 19th we started in the morning to visit 
Pompeii, Avhich I had seen in my chiklhood. I had 
not the least recollection of it, so that all I saw was 
new to me and interested me infinitely. . . . Count 
de Blacas was one of the party. We left Pompeii at 
the close of day. The crowd that was there often 
obliged us to halt. We met as many in passing the 
Torre dell' Annunziata and the Torre del Greco. 
Everywhere we heard acclamations and cries of 
'Long live the King! ' which caused us the greatest 
pleasure. 

"The 22d we visited Pozzuoli, the temple of 
Serapis, and we walked in the environs, so rich in 
mythological and historical souvenirs. 

" The 24th I went to confession and communion 
before making my full toilet to be married in the 
royal chapel. The entire court, the King's minis- 
ters and thosQ of the different Powers, the generals, 
etc., were invited. The Cardinal- Archbishop gave 
me the nuptial benediction. My uncle Leopold 
represented the Duke of Berry, in virtue of a legal 
instrument, Avhich was publicly read by the Marquis 
of Circello, Minister of the King. There was a 
drawing-room afterwards, and in the evening the 
Fondo theatre, where an allegorical ballet, inter- 
spersed with songs, and called Les JVoces de Thetis 
et de Pelee^ was performed. Everything terminated 
with a transparency representing the King of France, 
the Duke of Beny, and me." 



Ill 



THE DEPAKTUllE FROM NAPLES 

THE moment of departure was approaching. The 
Duchess of Berry already felt herself a French- 
woman, and experienced an attachment for the 
Prince whom she did not yet know. A wife before 
having seen her husband, she wrote him the follow- 
ing affectionate and touching letter on the very day 
of the marriage by proxy : — 

" Naples, April 24, 1816. 
"I have just taken at the altar, Mon seigneur, a 
solemn engagement to be your faithful and ten- 
der spouse. This dear title imposes duties on me 
which I most willingly commence to fulfil from 
this moment, by assuring you of the sentiments my 
heart has already vowed to you for life; its sole 
occupation shall be to seek means of pleasing you, 
conciliating your friendship, and meriting your con- 
fidence. Yes, you will have all my affections, all 
that is mine; you will be my guide and my friend; 
you will teach me how to please your august family ; 
you will (I doubt not) lessen the keen regret I shall 
feel in leaving my own. It is on you, in a word, 

21 



22 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



that I cast all the care of my conduct in order that it 
may be guided to all that may procure your happi- 
ness. That shall be my habitual study. I hope II' 
may be successful in it, and prove to you how highly, 
I value the privilege of being your companion ! In i 
these sentiments I am, for life, 

" Your affectionate spouse, 

"Caroline." 

On his side, the Duke of Berry was already in 
love with his young wife, and wrote to her, the same 
day, from Paris : — • 

"Your amiable letter has given me a pleasure 
which I cannot express to you, Madame and dear 
wife, since to-day we have mutually plighted our 
faith. From this day we are united by the sacred 
bonds of marriage, bonds which I shall ever seek to 
render easy to you. You deign to thank me for hav- 
ing chosen you as the companion of my life ! How 
many thanks do I not owe Your Royal Highness for 
having acceded so promptly to the wishes of your 
excellent parents! I feel how much it must cost 
you to leave them, and to come, almost alone, into a 
foreign country, though one which will soon be no 
longer foreign, in order to unite yourself with a man 
you do not know. I have composed your household 
of ladies whose virtue and kindliness I am acquainted 
with, and the King has approved my choice. Your 
lady-of -honor, the Duchess of Reggio, is in despair 
at not being able to go to meet you. Madame de La 



THE DEPARTURE FROM NAPLES 23 

FeiTonnays, your lady of the bedchamber, will be the 
first to have the happiness of paying her court to 
you ; she is a model of virtue and the sweetest amia- 
bility. I recommend her especially to you ; she will 
present your ladies-in-waiting. The Duke of Levis, 
your gentleman-in-waiting, is a man as distinguished 
for his qualities as for his talents. The Count of 
Mesnard, your first equerry, is a loyal chevalier who 
did not return to France until I did. In a word, I 
hope that when you know them you will find them 
worthy of the honor of being in your service. How 
impatiently I await the news of your arrival in 
France! How happy I shall be, my dearest wife, 
when I am able to call you by that sweet name! 
All that I hear of your qualities, your goodness, 
your intelligence, and your grace, charms me and 
kindles my desire to see and embrace you as I love 

^^^^* "Charles Ferdinand." 

All the royalists shared the Duke of Berry's joy. 
Even before the contract was signed, the French 
government had announced an event of so much 
importance to the dynasty, by calling on the Cham- 
bers to make suitable pecuniary arrangements for it. 
This announcement was greeted by the Chamber of 
Deputies with transports of enthusiasm. In a lyri- 
cal outburst M. de Marcellus exclaimed: "Oh, 
august race of our kings, be thou blessed! Illustri- 
ous lily stalk, glow with renewed lustre! May 
flowers innumerable embellish thee!" The Minis- 



24 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY J 

try had demanded for the Duke of Berry:'!. An 
annual endowment of one million, which for the first 
five years should be reduced to five hundred thou- 
sand francs in consideration of the heavy burdens 
France was bearing. 2. One million for the festiv- 
ities and other expenses of the marriage. The 
Chamber of Deputies granted still more. M. de 
Castelbajac having made his report, it resolved that 
the endowment should be one million from the 
start, and that the sum asked for the marriage ex- 
penses should be increased to fifteen hundred thou- 
sand francs. The Chamber of Peers was enthusiastic 
in its approbation; but a letter from the Duke of 
Richelieu, president of the council, while thanking 
the Chambers for their votes, assured them, in the 
name of the Duke of Berry, that he had resolved 
to apply what had been added to his endowment 
towards the aid of the departments which had suf- 
fered by the foreign invasion. 

The marriage by proxy had been celebrated at 
Naples, April 24, 1816. The Duchess of Berry 
remained there twenty days longer before embarking 
for France. Nearly all this time was taken up in 
excursions and festivities, "brilliant festivities," 
says Chateaubriand, "which seem to be eternally 
preparing on the shores of this bay, where all that 
meets the eye — sky, sea, plains, palaces, ruins — 
reminds of present pleasures or past joys." April 
25, the young Princess went to Caserta, the Ver- 
sailles of the Neapolitan Bourbons. She admired 



THE DEPARTUEE FROM NAPLES 25 

the royal palace, the gardens with their clipped 
hedges, statues, fountains, and cascades. We read 
in her journal : — • 

" The palace is the grandest and most magnificent 
that could be imagined. Four immense courts sur- 
rounding the main building show how vast were the 
ideas of its builder. King Charles III. After pass- 
ing through part of the palace and praying in the 
chapel, which is modelled on that of Fontainebleau, 
we dined, and then drove out to see the lake, which 
is in the uiidst of beautiful thickets. Prom there 
we went to my father's little castle, and then to 
receive benediction in a little church he had estab- 
lished so as to render it easy for the country people 
to perform their religious duties ; the chaplain made 
a discourse inviting those present to give thanks to 
God for having granted the return of the King and 
the royal family, and the Te Deum was chanted. 
The people, who assembled from all parts of the 
neighborhood, often prevented my parents from 
going forward. Every one showed the utmost pleas- 
ure at seeing us, and addressed us in the most touch- 
ing language." 

May 11, the Princess went to visit La Favorita, 
one of the royal pleasure-houses, which has a beau- 
tiful view of the Sorrento peninsula. The 12th she 
was present at a comedy played by amateurs at the 
residence of her uncle, the Prince of Salerno. The 
14th she sailed for France. 

Let us recall the persons who at this time com- 
posed her family ; — 



26 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

Crrandfather : The King of the Two Sicilies, Fer- 
dinand L, born January 12, 1751. 

Father : Francis, Prince-royal, Prince of Calabria, 
born August 19, 1777 (lie ascended the throne Janu- 
ary 3, 1825, and died November 8, 1830). 

Stepmother : Marie Isabelle, sister of the King of 
Spain, Ferdinand VII., born July 6, 1789. 

Brothers: 1. Ferdinand Charles, Duke of Nolo, 
born January 12, 1810 (the future King Ferdinand 

II.). 

2. Charles Ferdinand, Prince of Capua, born 
October 10, 1811. 

3. Leopold Benjamin, Count of Syracuse, born 
May 22, 1813. 

/Sisters : 1. Louise Charlotte, born October 3, 1804 
(in 1819 she married the Infant of Spain, Francis of 
Paula, by whom she had King Francis of Assisi, 
husband of Isabella, Queen of Spain). 

2. Marie Christine, born April 27, 1806 (who in 
1829 married Ferdinand YIL, King of Spain, and 
became the mother of Queen Isabella). 

3. Marie Antoinette, born December 19, 1814. 
Uncle : Leopold John, Prince of Salerno, born 

July 2, 1790; married July 28, 1816, to Marie 
Clementine, Archduchess of Austria, born March 1, 
1789, daughter of Francis I., Emperor of Austria, 
and sister of the Empress Marie Louise. 

Aunts: Marie Christine Am^lie Thdr^se (the 
future Queen of Sardinia), born April 26, 1782; 
married November 25, 1809, to Louis Philippe, 
Duke of Orleans. 



THE DEPARTUBE FROM NAPLES 27 

All the relatives of the Duchess of Berry displayed 
much affection for her, and their good wishes accom- 
})anied her on her departure. 

The Duke of Narbonne-Pelet, Frencli ambassador 
to Naples, Avrote, May 14, 1816, to the Duke of 
Richelieu, Minister of Foreign Affairs : — 

"S. A. R. Madame the Duchess of Berry em- 
barked this morning in very good health and excel- 
lent weather on board the Neapolitan frigate Sirene, 
which sailed for Marseilles in company with a ship 
of the line and a corvette. It had been intended to 
sail on the 11th, but a hard gale which was blowing 
for two or three days delayed it until to-day. The 
French schooner Momus accompanies the squadron, 
and will probably reach Marseilles some hours 
earlier." 

The Duchess of Berry, on her part, wrote this in 
her journal : — 

"I embarked at nine o'clock on the morning of the 
14th. The King, my father, and my uncle, had the 
kindness to accompany me. An indisposition which 
had lasted some days prevented the hereditary Prin- 
cess from going on board the frigate Sirene, the same 
which brought us here. When we reached it, the 
crew saluted us with a cry of 'Long live the King,' 
which they repeated nine times. The Ferdinand^ 
carrying eighty cannons, and the corvette Fama^ 
which accompanied us, fired a salute of twenty-one 
guns. We sailed just after nine o'clock with a light 
wind from the southwest. At half-past ten, the 



THE DUCHESS OF BEERY 



King, my father, and my uncle, left me, and also the 
French ambassadors. My suite comprised the Prince 
of San Nicandro, the Countess of La Tour and her 
daughter, the Count La Tour, and my attendants." 
The young Princess had a fortunate passage across 
that sea which, as Chateaubriand remarks, had wit- 
nessed the passage of her ancestress. Marguerite of 
Provence, the wife of Saint Louis, returning from 
the Holy Land, where she had shared the misfor- 
tunes of her husband and her king. May 21, 1816, 
after a seven-days voyage, the Duchess of Berry 
arrived off Marseilles. 



IV 



THE LAZARETTO OF MARSEILLES 

THE Moniteur of March 25, 1816, had published 
the names of the persons who were to make up 
the househokl of the Duchess of Berry. They were 
as follows: First almoner, Abb^ de Bombelle; lady 
of honor, the Duchess of Reggio; lady of the 
bedchamber, the Countess of La Ferronnays ; ladies- 
in-waiting, the Viscountess of Gontaut, the Vis- 
countess of Bouill^, the Countess of Hautefort, 
Countess Charles de Bethisy, the Countess of Lau- 
riston, the Countess of Gourgues; gentleman-in- 
waiting, the Duke of Levis ; first equerry, the Count 
of Mesnard; equerry commandant. Marquis Anjor- 
rant. 

One of the ladies-in-waiting, the Viscountess 
(afterwards Duchess) of Gontaut, writes as follows 
in her unpublished Memoirs : — 

"I was summoned one day to the Tuileries by 
Monsieur. He kindly informed me that the mar- 
riage of M. the Duke of Berry with the Princess 
Caroline of Naples had just been arranged, and that 
he was anxious to let me know I had been appointed 
one of the ladies-in-waiting to the Princess, and even 



80 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

commissioned to go and receive her at Marseilles. I 
felt my very heart moved Avith profound gratitude to 
the royal family who had deigned to choose me 
among the throng of applicants surrounding them, 
all converted, as people were at the time, to senti- 
ments of love and devotion for the court." 

Madame de Gontaut went to bid farewell to the 
King and the Princess before her departure. She 
adds: "The Duchess of Angouleme condescended 
to explain to me in detail the composition of the 
household of Madame the Duchess of Berry, which 
she had provided should be established on the same 
scale as her own : six ladies-in-waiting, of whom two 
should be on duty every week. She told me that 
the Countess of Bouille had just been ajDpointed and 
was to go with me. I did not know her. ' She is a 
pretty American, married to the best of men, ' said 
she ; ' perhaps she will amuse you. But she of whom 
I especially wish to speak to you is the Marechale 
Oudinot, Duchess of Reggio, one of the ladies-in- 
waiting. She is charming in face, conduct, and 
tact; in fine, she is gentle, kindly, and attractive; 
I am sure she will please you; her appointment is 
an excellent one which will gain universal approba- 
tion. I don't doubt that the Duchess of Berry will 
know how to appreciate her. She will start after 
you do, with another lady-in-waiting, Madame de 
La Ferronnays, whom you have known this long 
while. Their mission is the same as yours, — to go 
to Marseilles and wait there for the Princess. The 



THE LAZARETTO OF MARSEILLES 31 

Countess of Hautefort and the Countess of B(ithisy, 
the Countess of Lauriston [afterwards la Marechale]^ 
and the Countess of Gourgues, will be stationed at 
intervals along the road and follow the Princess to 
Fontainebleau. There she will be received by the 
King.'" 

Madame de Gontaut started for Marseilles in the 
same carriage with Madame de Bouille. "As we 
approached the South," she tells us, "enthusiasm 
increased and cries of 'Long live the Duchess of 
Berry!' were heard on all sides. Madame de 
Bouille was enchanted, and showed herself as much 
as possible to the public, saying with na'ive com- 
placency, 'Let us make them happy.' 

" What a host of reflections occurred to me when 
the King's servants Avho were with us said that the 
carriage we occupied was that in which Napoleon 
had returned from Waterloo to Paris ! I was even 
told, by way of entertaining me, that I could find 
the mysterious hiding-places in which the Emperor 
carried his despatches, treasures, etc. This research 
amused me during the monotony of the journey. 
But, seeing one of the principal springs, I had the 
unfortunate notion of pressing it, and on the instant 
a board sprang up and carried me with it. I found 
myself lying on a hard, narrow, immovable, quilted 
mattress, and I rolled about all night on this poverty- 
stricken bed of the great Emperor, unable for several 
hours to find the secret spring which could deliver 
me from this perilous position, and not daring to 



32 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

call a halt to the column of travellers who were 
with lis. 

"The Duke of Havre, representing the King, andi 
accompanied by various officers of the royal house- 
hold, body-guards, etc., had started twelve hours 
before us; in every city he was received with the 
boisterous honors due to his mission. Discharges 
of artillery, bells, and speeches greeted his arrival 
and departure; everywhere receptions, honors, and 
fatigue. 

" Baron de Damas, who was in command at Mar- 
seilles, received us with cordiality and politeness; 
so did his mother, who assisted him very graciously 
in doing the honors of the, city. Our joy at attain- 
ing the goal of our journey was very soon disturbed. 
A despatch sent to Baron de Damas informed him 
that a sort of plague which had broken out in one of 
the towns in the Neapolitan dominions had delayed 
the arrival of the Princess. As he was reading it a 
doleful expression came over his face, caused, doubt- 
less, by the number of our colony; I heard him say 
to his mother in an undertone: 'How are we to 
amuse them ? ' I could not help laughing. Some- 
thing had to be done, and the best way was to turn 
the thing into a jest, which set us all at our ease. 
The noble and conciliatory manners of former days 
of which the Duke of Havre was a model, and the 
gracious ways of the Duchess of Reggio, consoled 
our hostess : the difficulties vanished. As we were 
received courteously and kindly by everybody in the 



THE LAZABETTO OF MARSEILLES 33 

city and neighborhood, this dreaded time passed very 
quickly." 

The sanitary committee had resolved that the 
Princess and her Neapolitan suite should be quaran- 
tined for ten days before entering Marseilles, and 
this decision had been made known to them at 
Naples before they sailed. 

May 21, 1816, the frigate with the Duchess of 
Berry on board arrived off Marseilles and was 
saluted by a hundred discharges of artillery from the 
fort. In an instant the roadstead was covered with 
small craft adorned with flowers and white flags, 
but they were not allowed to cross the line pre- 
scribed by the quarantine regulations. 

" We tried to make out the Princess from a dis- 
tance," says Madame de Gontaut in her unpublished 
Memoirs. " She saw us ; we knew that by her kindly 
gestures. We followed her with eyes and hearts 
until she entered the lazaretto. When we came 
back to the prefecture, we looked for Madame de La 
Ferronnaj^s, whom we had not been able to find; to 
our astonishment, we learned that as soon as Ma- 
dame's arrival had been signalled, she had started 
all alone in order to shut herself up in the quaran- 
tine hospital. The Duke of Havr^ and the Duchess 
of Reggio were ignorant of this and seemed sur- 
prised, but expressed no opinion on the subject, nor 
did I ask any questions. 

"After Madame's arrival at the lazaretto she sent 
us word to come there ; we saw her through a grat- 



34 THE BUCHESS OF BERRY 

^\ 

ing in a little parlor where we presented ourselves 
every day. We thought Madame gracious, agree- 
able, good, kindly, and gay; in a word, she charmed 
us. The remarkable gentleness of the Duchess of 
Reggio pleased her at once. Madame de Bouille 
surprised her. Madame had learned from the Duke 
'^ Havr^ the sacrifice I had made in leaving my 
children to come to her, and she was always talking 
to me about it. Wishing to know what interested 
jach of those who were about to be in attendance on 
her, she induced us to talk about ourselves, and, 
with a true princely memory, forgot nothing, which 
we thought very amiable. We noticed that Madame 
de La Ferronnays was in company with Madame de 
La Tour and all those who had come from Naples, 
and thence concluded, though without being cer- 
tain of it, that being established at the quarantine 
hospital, she must needs remain there as long as 
Madame." 

In thus enclosing herself in the lazaretto, the 
lady-in-waiting had outstepped her instructions, and 
thereby displeased the King. On this head Madame 
de Gontaut says : — 

"Madame de La Ferronnays 's intention was to seek 
a natural occasion to acquaint the Princess with the 
■noble sentiments, the wit, and the good heart of 
Monseigneur, and thus teach her to love him in 
advance. Her zeal led her astray ; she did not con- 
sider how improper this proceeding would seem to 
the Duchess of Reggio and Monseigneur, whom she 



THE LAZARETTO OF MARSEILLES 35 

)Uglit to have consulted. It was not a rash or 
mpulsive action; afterwards, being timid in cliarac- 
>er, she did nothing to repair what Marshal Oudinot, 
Duke of Reggio, took for an insult and complained 
A to the King." 

The Duchess of Berry received the following letter 
iom her husband on reaching the hospital : — 

" Paris, May 10, 181G. 

"I profit, Madame, by the departure of the Duchess- 
of Reggio, to tell you how deeply your second letter 
has touched me ; that letter which you wrote imme- 
diately after the ceremony by which you confided 
your destiny to me. I have your happiness in charge, 
and it shall be the sweet and constant occupation of 
my life. I have seen with regret the delay on your 
departure from Naples; the quarantine you will 
necessarily submit to, although shortened as much as 
possible, compels me to conclude that I shall not have 
the happiness of seeing you until early next month. 
How sorry I am not to be able to go to Naples to 
meet you! But we must conform to the wishes of 
our parents, and, as the first of subjects, we owe 
them the example of obedience. All France awaits 
you with the keenest impatience, and I more than 
any one else. I recommend to you the Duchess of 
Reggio, who, in spite of her delicate health, was bent 
on going. She thinks herself very happy to be able 
to begin her duties near you. 

"Adieu, Madame; I am impatient to receive a 



36 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



letter from Your Royal Highness dated in France. 
The wind, which is blowing violently, makes me' 

^''®^'^^®' "Chables Ferdinand." 

So long as the Duchess of Berry was in the laza-j 
retto of Marseilles, the city was hung in the duytime! 
with flags, festoons, and flowers, and in the evenings j 
the illuminations which blazed until midnight con-i 
tinned to show the Princess what enthusiasm wasii 
kindled by her presence. Amusements were con- 
trived which should make the delay imposed by the; 
quarantine regulations seem shorter to her. In the 
evening of May 23 she had a sail in a superb yawl it 
placed at her disposal by Admiral Missiessy. This ;j 
yawl was speedily surrounded by a multitude of': 
small boats crowded with people anxious to see how I 
the young Princess looked. The shore, from the j 
lazaretto to the end of the esplanade of La Tourette, 
was thronged with innumerable and clamorously en- 
thusiastic spectators. 

On arriving at the entrance of the harbor, the 
Duchess of Berry's yawl made its way with difliculty 
through the crowd of boats awaiting her at this point. 
The health officers thereupon concluded that if they 
carefully surrounded the yawl and prevented it 
from holding communication with any other vessel, 
there would be nothing hazardous in allowing it to 
enter the port. This was done amid shouts from the 
crews of every boat, and an immense crowd that had 
rapidly assembled on the wharves. The Princess 
stood up in the stern of the yawl, where every one 



THE LAZAUETTO OF MARSEILLES 37 



uld see her, and affectionately sainted the cnthn- 
astic people. The yawl came close to the Canne- 
.dre wharf and then turned slowly, to regain first 
le entrance of the harbor, and then the quarantine 
ospital. During this sail, the Duchess of Berry 
-ore a robe of rose-colored levantine, cut heart- 
.laped and trimmed with tulle. A little striped 
ashmere shawl was thrown negligently around her 
boulders ; a large white straw hat trimmed with a 
/reath of lilies covered her beautiful hair, and was 
ied with a ribbon of the same color. Leaning 
gainst the gallery which separated her from the 
owers, the Princess looked at the crowd with emo- 
ion. " Ah! " said she, "perhaps it is not very easy 
or me to shed tears, but to-day I must let them 

low." 

In the evening of May 25, a concert was given in 
ront of the lazaretto by the orchestra of the Grand 
Theatre. The next day she wrote as follows to her 
ausband : — 

"From the Lazaretto of Marseilles, May 26, 1816. 

"Your kind letters, Monseigneur, have already 
accustomed me to your interest in me. I owe it to 
Your Royal Highness to inform you with the confi- 
dence which you inspire, of all that I am doing here, 
and first of all concerning my health, which is very 
good. I rise rather late, because I like to sleep in 
the morning; hence I do not hear Mass until between 
nine and ten o'clock. The good Duke of Havre 
takes the trouble to come a great distance to be 



38 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



present at it, and so do the prefect, M. de Ville- 
neuve-Bargemont, M. de Montgrand, the mayor, and! 
the health officers whenever their public duties per-1 
mit. So they see me at the very resjjectful distanceil 
imposed hj the quarantine reguhitions. Then I go; 
back to my own apartments until dinner time, aften! 
which I profit by the excellent society of Madame de' 
La Ferronnays ; it is doubtless to her attachment toi 
Monseigneur that I owe such a touching proof of hen; 
devotion in coming to shut herself up here with me, 
I ai^preciate it greatly, as also the Duchess of Reggio's. 
request to do the same. I had the pleasure of see- 
ing her in the parlor with Madames de Gontaut, de3 
Bouill^, de L^vis, de Mesnard, and all those pre- 
sented to me by the Duke of Havre; that is my occu- 
pation after dinner, before a promenade, or a fishing-- 
excursion, pleasures which the health officers have si 
twice procured for me." 

In the same letter the Princess speaks thus of the 
excursion of May 23: — 

" Last Thursday I had a delightful sail in a yawl 
which the commandant of the marine sent for from 
Toulon ; they let us enter the harbor, and as it seems 
tliat the good people of Marseilles were very pleased 
to have me find a way of showing myself, I have 
asked to have the excursion repeated to-day, if the 
weather permits. They have had musical perform- 
ances for me several times ; in a word, Monseigneur, 
nothing has been omitted which could give me 
pleasure." 



THE LAZARETTO OF MARSEILLES 89 

The young Princess thus terminated her pleasant 
[epistle : — 

''I am very grateful, I assure you, and I should 
like to show it as I feel it; but I cannot overcome 
my timidity all of a sudden. My age and the fcAv 
opportunities I have had of going out ought to excuse 
me to those who know these reasons ; others will per- 
haps judge me less indulgently. That will not 
trouble me except on account of Your Royal High- 
ness, to whom I should like to give all kinds of satis- 
faction. They are to show me Toulon, and I shall 
enjoy this pleasure all the more because it will not 
entail a dela}^, but only occupy the days of grace 
accorded me by the health commissioners; the 
arrangement was made by the excellent Duke of 
Havre. I am not writing to-day to the King our 
uncle nor to your father, lest I should weary them; 
but kindly interpret my sentiments of respect and 
attachment for them, as well as my friendship to the 
Duke and Duchess of Angouleme. I am longing to 
make the acquaintance of a family already so dear to 
me. You will show me how to please them, Mon- 
seigneur ; you will tell me very frankly all I ought 
to do to accomplish that, and above all how to merit 
your affection. "Caeoline." 

On the same day on which the Princess wrote this 
letter to her husband from the lazaretto of Marseilles, 
the Prince wrote to her from Paris : — 

" I cannot express to you, Madame, how happy I 



40 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

am to hear of your arrival at Marseilles. I would 
gladly have shortened the tiresome quarantine of 
Your Royal Highness, and fear you will find the 
time very long. You have already gained the hearts 
of those who have only caught a glimpse of you. 
You are already so much loved in France ! People 
greatly desire to see you! When I go out nowa- 
days, they no longer cry, 'Long live the Duke of 
Berry! ' but what pleases me a great deal more, 
'Long live the Duchess of Berry! Long live the 
Princess Caroline ! ' 

" I should like, Madame, to forestall all the wishes 
of Your Royal Highness, and to know what would 
please you. Here you will have a charming resi- 
dence which the whole family occupies itself in 
arranging. You like to ride ; I will find very steady 
horses for you. I know that you are afraid of noth- 
ing; but, for my part, I am afraid for you. Speaking 
of courage, you were in great danger at sea, near 
that villainous island of Elba, whence all our woes 
proceeded last year. That made me tremble ; but I 
liked to hear that you had not felt the slightest fear. 
The blood of Henri IV. and Louis XIV. was not 
untrue to itself." 

The Duke of Berry terminated his affectionate 
letter by these lines full of tenderness : — 

" Adieu, Madame and dearest friend, my good and 
amiable wife ; while aAvaiting June 15, which is still 
so far off, I repeat that I love you, and that I will do 
all that lies in me to make you happy. 

"Charles Ferdinand." 



THE LAZABETTO OF MARSEILLES 41 

While the Duke of Berry was wholly wrapt in his 
ideas of conjugal love and domestic happiness, the 
gay, smiling, and high-spirited 3'oung Princess was 
thrilling with joy and hope. The hospital, an abode 
ordinarily so gloomy, took on for her all the illu- 
sions and dreams of a southern imagination. Mar- 
seilles seemed like a splendid scene, whose distance 
even increased its enchantment. She made her for- 
mal entry into the city on May 30. 



ENTERING MARSEILLES 

MARSEILLES is in holiday attire from day- 
break on May 30, 1816. Never has the Pho- 
cean city presented a more grandiose appearance. 
The sky, whose azure rivals that of the sea, is illu- 
mined by a splendid sun whose golden reflections 
make the waves sparkle like diamonds. The gar- 
dens of numberless hastides, as the pleasure houses 
vdiich surround the city with a belt of foliage are 
called, are filled with orange, citron, and myrtle 
trees. It is a festival of springtime, light, and 
flowers. When the people of Southern France set 
out to be enthusiastic, their enthusiasm becomes a 
sort of madness. They are intoxicated with noise, 
shouting, and racket of all sorts. Do you see the 
windows adorned with women, flags, and garlands, 
the National Guards and troops of the line drawn up 
in double rows on the wharves and in the streets, 
the flat roofs crowded with innumerable spectators ? 
Do you hear the bells ringing, the cannon roaring, 
the vivas splitting the air? Do you see the magnif- 
icent roadstead where whole fleets ride at anchor, the 
hill where rises the poetic chapel of Notre Dame de 

42 



ENTERING MARSEILLES 43 

la Garde, patroness of sailors, the mountains on the 
horizon which frame in the magical picture ? What 
a display, what a spectacle! Truly it is fairy-like, 
enchanting, dazzling. 

It is nine o'clock in the morning. The Duchess 
of Berry, coming out of the lazaretto, embarks on a 
boat belonging to the royal marine commanded by 
M. de Damas, captain of a ship of the line, for the 
Place de I'HOtel de Ville, where she is to land. On 
entering the port, she is saluted by thirty-six guns 
from the forts and the King's vessels. Every craft 
in the harbor is hung with flags. As she lands, one 
hundred and fifty National Guards and as many of 
the Royal Guard form a double line. The troops 
present arms. The flags are lowered, the ofhcers 
bow, and the drums beat a salute. A detachment 
of Sicilian troops escort the Princess to the H6tel 
de Ville, where the ceremony of delivery is to take 
place. 

The same ceremonial is observed as had been fol- 
lowed on Ma}^ 6, 1770, for the Dauphiness, Marie 
Antoinette, in the larger island in the Rhine, near 
Strasbourg, and on March 16, 1810, for the Empress 
Marie Louise at Braunau. Conformably to diplo- 
matic usage, the H6tel de Ville has been declared 
neutral ground by special act. The apartments on 
the right of the principal hall have been arranged 
for the reception of the Princess, her Neapolitan 
household, and the Prince of San Nicandro, ambas- 
sador of her grandfather, the King of the Two Sici- 



44 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

lies. On this side the Neapolitan colors are raised. 
The apartments on the left remaiil the property of 
the King of France. Here are stationed the Duke 
of Havre, ambassador of Louis XVIIl. ; the Duchess 
of Reggio, lady of honor to the Duchess of Berry; 
the Countess of La Ferronnays, lady of the bedcham- 
ber; the Countess of Bouille and the Viscountess of 
Gontaut, ladies-in-waiting; the Duke of Levis, gen- 
tleman-in-waiting; and the Count of Mesnard, first 
equerry. The Sicilian body-guards draw up in line 
in the great hall, beneath their national standard. 
The French body-guards do the same, on the opposite 
side. In the middle of the hall stands a table 
covered with green velvet fringed with gold. Here 
the delivery is to be effected according to the proto- 
col of royal marriages. 

The Princess comes forward through the great hall 
and sits down at the middle of the table, on the Nea- 
politan side, with the Prince of San Nicandro on her 
right, and behind her the Countess of La Tour, her 
lady of honor, as well as the Prince of Ruffo-Scilla 
and General de La Tour, both of whom were wit- 
nesses of the marriage by proxy at Naples. On the 
other side of the table the French household remain 
standing. After the reading of the official docu- 
ments, and an exchange of speeches, thirty-six dis- 
charges of artillery announce that the delivery has 
been effected. The Prince of San Nicandro has just 
presented the Princess to the Duke of Havrd, repre- 
sentative of Louis XVIIL She has said farewell to 



ENTEEING MARSEILLES 45 

the members of her Neapolitan household, who fling 
themselves on their knees, weeping as they kiss her 
hands. Then she crosses over to the other side of 
the table. She is a Frenchwoman now. Her new 
lady of honor, the Duchess of Reggio, comes forward. 
The Princess embraces her. Then the Duchess pre- 
sents the Countess of La Ferronnays, the Countess 
of Bouill^, the Viscountess of Gontaut, the Duke of 
L^vis, the Count of Mesnard ; and the Countess of La 
Ferronnays, in her capacity as lady of the bedcham- 
ber, offers her the trousseau and the corbeille, pre- 
sented by the King. Afterwards she enters a cham- 
ber, where, according to usage, she lays aside her 
Neapolitan garments for others exclusively French. 
This change of dress is symbolical of the change of 
country. It is a farewell to the past, a greeting to 
the future. On one hand regret, on the other hope. 
One might appl}^ to the Princess, who thus begins a 
new existence, Victor Hugo's famous line: — 

" Depart with a tear, enter with a smile." 

Resplendent in her French toilet, the Duchess of 
Berry goes down into the Place de I'Hotel de Ville, 
where she receives the compliments of General 
Baron de Damas, commander of the 8th Military 
division, and of the Prefect of the Bouches on Rh6ne 
department. She re-embarks afterward in order to 
make a formal entry at Monsieur's quay, in front of 
the Cannebiere. This time she does not take a boat 
belonging to the royal marine, but a gilded long- 



46 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

boat belonging to the Marseilles merchant service, 
which is manned by twenty-four oarsmen dressed in 
white satin, with blue and gold scarfs. Sheltered 
by the royal standard bearing the arms of France and 
Navarre, and seated beneath a crimson velvet canopy 
surmounted by a crown of colossal proportions, the 
young Princess advances through a forest of masts 
draped with greenery and pennants. One might 
think her the Queen of the Mediterranean. She 
lands on Monsieur's quay. The mayor pays his 
homage. The troops are in battle array. Again a 
salvo of thirty-six guns is fired, and all the church- 
bells ring. The Princess goes by way of the Canne- 
bi^re and the Cours to the church of Saint Martin, 
where the clergy offer her holy water and conduct 
her processionally into the sanctuary, where she 
hears Mass and a Te Deum. Then she goes to her 
palace, where thirty young girls salute her and 
offer flowers. She dines alone in grand state. 
After dinner she goes to the theatre, where her pres- 
ence calls forth great applause. The whole city is 
illuminated. 

Enjoy your triumph, Madame. Look well at 
these festive shores where a magnificent reception 
greets you, where everybody swears devotion and 
fidelity, where you make your appearance like a 
queen, almost like a divinity. You will return to 
them again in less than sixteen years. You will 
return, but in what different attire ! 

A proscript, when it becomes a question how you 



ENTEBING MARSEILLES 47 

shall vindicate the rights of a son despoiled of his 
inheritance, you will say to yourself: "I must 
begin on the shores of Provence. Can Marseilles, 
which gave me such a brilliant reception, fail to 
recognize me?" But this time you will find no 
triumphal arches ; your road will not be strewn with 
flowers. You Avill be obliged to hide in an obscure 
house in the suburbs, awaiting w^ith feverish impa- 
tience through a cruelly long night the pretended 
movement in jowv favor. In the morning you will 
learn that this movement has Avretchedly miscarried. 
And in your distress you will say : — 

" Alas ! where are they who made me such splendid 
promises, and shouted so for me? I am sad, I am 
alone, I am deserted, and I shall soon have no place 
to lay my head." 

And then you will begin that campaign so full of 
danger, so full of anguish, which will end by the 
treachery of a Judas and the captivity of Blaye. 
How the bells, how the trumpets, how the shouts 
resound to-day ! Why think of the future ? Young 
and brilliant Princess, be happy while you may. 



VI 

FROM MARSEILLES TO FONTAINEBLEATJ 

BEFORE leaving Marseilles finally, the Duchess 
of Berry Avas to make a short excursion to 
Toulon. Starting from Marseilles, in the morning 
of May 31, 1816, she returned in the evening of the 
following day. Compliments followed her as far 
as the limits of the department of the Var, and 
triumphal arches of foliage spanned the road at 
intervals. On reaching Toulon during the day, the 
young Princess found all the streets hung with flags 
and all the houses decked with garlands. The peo- 
ple took the horses from her carriage and drew it 
themselves. In the evening there were fireworks. 
The next morning at eight o'clock she reviewed 
the National Guard, and then took a boat to the 
Royal Lonis^ a man-of-war, where Admiral Missiessy 
gave her a breakfast and afterwards entertained her 
with a mimic naval combat. On returning to Mar- 
seilles the Princess wrote this letter to her husband, 
June 2: — 

" What a pleasure for me, Monseigneur, to receive 
your most amiable letters, written five days ago, but 
written far too rapidly! Permit me to make a tiny 
48 



FEOM MARSEILLES TO FONTAINEBLEAU 49 



eproacli to Your Royal Highness. You will excuse 
lie, because you assure me that you wish to give me 
11 sorts of pleasure, and yet you delay that I have 
n reading you by the study I am obliged to give 
'our writing. Don't go to thinking me hard to 
Dlease and a scold after this. 

" Last evening I came back from Toulon, where 
3very instant was employed in receiving homage and 
'estivities by land and sea. The whole city was 
lecorated with emblems and allegorical inscriptions. 
Impossible to describe the enthusiasm of these good 
Proven gaux ; they spoil me ; they move my heart by 
their repeated expressions of love for the King and 
all his family. At the same time, they have the tact 
to huzza also for my Neapolitan relatives. Is not 
that charming? All the authorities are excellent 
according to common report ; it is certainly they who 
encourage these good sentiments. I have had the 
pleasure of seeing that excellent Rousse of Toulon, 
the only person who caused Louis XVII. to be recog- 
nized, and Avho by an entire and disinterested devo- 
tion, continues to be useful to his country and his 
Kino'. 

'I was taken through the arsenals. The land 
arsenal, which was not in existence four months 
ago, is now in a condition to arm more than thirty 
thousand men. This is owing to the indefatigable 
activity of the colonel in charge, whose name is 
Laferriere. This little journey has interested me in 
every way. Nowhere, I think, could one get a 



60 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

juster idea of the resources and capabilities of 
France than by visiting this fine harbor. If it pro- 
duces this effect on me, who understand notliing 
about it, what must it produce on better instructed 
persons ? In thirteen days, Monseigneur, I shall see 
you, and be able to judge for myself all that is told 
me of the goodness of your heart and mind, and to 
repeat to you that I am for life your faithful and 
affectionate "Cakoline." 

The journey of the Princess was a continual ova- 
tion all the way from Marseilles to Fontainebleau, 
where it had been settled that the first interview of 
the married pair should take place in the forest on 
June 15. The 3fo7uteur of April 29, 1816, had pub- 
lished the following note : — 

" S. A. R. the Duchess of Berry will be received 
on her journey through France with the same honors 
accorded to the Countess of Provence and the Coun- 
tess of Artois. Each prefect will accompany her to 
the limits of his department, where he will be 
relieved by the prefect of the next one. At the 
entrance of each city she will be received by the 
mayors and deputies. The guards and troops of 
the line will be under arms. If the Princess takes 
up her residence at the archbishopric or bishopric, she 
will be received by the archbishop or bishop as she 
alights from the carriage, and, if she enters a church, 
she will be received there by the clergy with the 
archbishop or bishop at their head. During the stay 



FROM MARSEILLES TO FONTAINEBLEAU 51 

f the Princess in each city, the master of cei'e- 
nonies will present the clergy and the authorities 
;o her." 

This ceremonial was observed in all its details. 
The first city in which the Princess made a halt was 
:he old parliamentary town of Aix. She Avas pres- 

nt at the curious annual procession founded by 
ving Rend, in 1448. The Duchess of Gontaut 
^ives the following description of it : — 

■'This festival was intended to represent the 
triumph of the Christian religion over idolatry, by 
means of allegorical personages and heathen gods, 
who are driven back to hell by the presence of the 
Saviour. At the head of the procession we saw 
Mercury; the Goddess of Night; Pluto, surrounded 
by a multitude of demons; Diana, Love, Venus, 
Mars, walking one after another; then the lepers, 
the commanders of the city, horse-guards, dancers, 
tambourine players, etc. After the mythological 
divinities were Scriptural personages: The Queen 
of Sheba coming to see Solomon; Moses carrying 
the Tables of the Law, and trying to bring back to 
the worship of the true God the mocking Jews, 
who were dancing round a pasteboard golden calf. 
Following the Jews came the apostles, with the 
perfidious Judas in advance, holding in his hand a 
purse containing the thirty pieces of silver earned 
by his treason ; the other apostles were beating him 
over the head with sticks of Avood in punishment 
for his infamous behavior. The Abbe of Youth, the 



52 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



King of the Basoche, and the Prince of Love pre- 
ceded the canopy covering the Blessed Sacrament 
which was followed by an immensity of priests ii 
different costumes. Death closed the cortege. AI 
the church bells of the city were ringing while the 
procession lasted." 

Leaving Aix, the Princess went to Orange, where | 
she admired the ancient theatre and the arch of 
Marius, two magnificent vestiges of Roman grand- 
eur. Thence she passed in triumph through the 
department of the Dr6me. Meanwhile, her husband 
wrote her as follows from Paris, June 4 : — 

" I received yesterday, Madame and dearest friend, 
your kind and amiable letter of the 27th. Every- 
body says all that is good about you ; but I can 
appreciate your worth better from your letters, which 
I find charming. You ask me to give you advice, 
and I will tell you everything that I think you may 
find useful. You complain of your timidit}^; it is 
becoming to your youth, and you know how to com- 
bine it with kindness and nobility. You are sur- 
rounded by the love of the people of the South of 
France, who are very good. You are a presage of 
happiness to France, and the terror of the seditious. ■ 

"Charles Ferdinand." 1 

The Princess wrote to her husband the next 

day: — 

"MoNTELiMART, Jiine 5, 1816. 

"Monseigneur's letter of May 31 was brought to 

me before I was able to finish my reply to that of 



FBOM MARSEILLES TO FONTAINEBLEAU 



63 



he 26th. I tliank you deeply for the second as 
rell as the first. You gave me a great pleasure by 
ending that of my parents. People still continue 
show me France in gala dress. In every place I 
)ass through the acclamations are continual, and 
ikewise the compliments of the authorities. I feel 
his deeply; but I will whisper to Monseigneur, 
i-om whom I have nothing to hide, and to him only, 
:hat I also feel the weight of these honors, and am 
lever intoxicated by them. I am longing to enjoy a 
quiet family life. Meanwhile, I assure Your Royal 
Highness of my affection; it will last as long as my 
life. ''Caroline." 

After INIontelimart the Princess visited Vienne in 
Dauphin}^ where she saw Pontius Pilate's tower on 
the bank of the Rhone, and the superb Gothic church 
of Saint Maurice, with its gigantic nave, its stair- 
ways of a thousand balusters, and its ceiling sown 
with golden stars. She reached Lyons June 8, at 
half-past three in the afternoon. A triumphal arch 
had been erected in her honor on the Place de la 
Charite. One hundred ladies and thirty young girls 
paid her their compliments. The next day, after 
Mass, she went to the H6tel de Ville, and thence to 
Saint Peter's House, where the Chamber of Com- 
merce presented their homage in the shape of a 
handsome basket containing stuffs from the manu- 
factures of Lyons. In accepting this offering, the 
Princess removed the shawl she was wearing and 



54 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

put on one of those presented to her, saying that shel 
would wear it to the theatre the same evening. Dur-J 
ing the day she wrote this letter to her husband : — 

"Lyons, June 9, 1816. 

" Your letter of June 4, Monseigneur, was handed 
to me on the evening of my arrival at Lyons. li 
don't want to keep on repeating that I thank you;; 
once for all, count on my tender gratitude, and be i 
sure that nothing escapes my susceptibility; youi 
have touched it keenly. 

" You say you are content with me, Monseigneur. 
That is doubtless to reassure me ; for I know that I 
lack much, very much of being what I would like to 
be in order to please you and to correspond with the 
too flattering idea that has been given you of Caro- 
line. Believe in her good heart and her desire to 
respond to your confidence by giving you all her 
own. That is all I can answer for; your care, your 
kindness, will do the rest. 

" I am very grateful for all that has been done to 
embellish my habitation, and for me. How can I 
show my gratitude to everybody? You will help 
me, Monseigneur; it is only with you that I already 
try to need no interpreter, for I tell you very frankly 
that you are dear to your u Caroline." 

In the evening there was a state dinner at the 
archbishop's palace, and a gala representation at 
the Grand Theatre. They played La Partie de 



FBOM MAItSEILLES TO FONTAINEBLEAU 55 



Jiasse de Henri IV,, and a piece composed for the 
icasion called La Nymphe de Farthenope. At the 
ose of this piece, Flora, followed by her nymphs, 
isses in front of the stage, taking lilies from her 
asket and tln^owing them to the spectators. All 
le nymphs carried clusters of the same flower, and 
.kewise threw them into the hall. At the same 
loment a shower of lilies fell from the ceiling, and 

dove came to place a crown on the Duchess of 
Kerry's head. All the spectators rose at once, 
raving their lily stalks and crying: "Long live 
he King! Long live the Princess! " 

The Duke of Berry wrote to his wife the same 

' " " Paris, June 9, 1816. 

"It is, Madame and dear friend, by one of the 
iiost devoted adherents of our house that I write you 
-o.jay, — the good Prince of Castelcicala. I have 
110 need of recommending him to you; he knows me 
well, having seen me so long in England. How 
gladly I would take his place! I shall see you in 
six days, then! I am always fearing that you will 
not find me handsome, for the Parisian painters are 
not like those of Palermo ; they flatter. What pleas- 
ure it will give me to press your hand! Press mine 
also if you do not find me too displeasing. The con- 
straint we shall be under for two days annoys me 
much. My Caroline, I am going to make your hap- 
piness and your pleasures my occupation. I know 
you like going to the play, and I have boxes in all 



56 THE DUCHESS OF BERET 



the theatres. I have a country seat which you havdi 
heard of, where we shall often go together. I hunt 
often, and you shall come too, in an oj^en carriage j 
you like music, and I am very fond of it also. In a'- 
word, Madame, I will try to make you happy, and II 
hope to succeed. If I am to believe those who havei 
seen you, you possess good-nature, gentleness, intel-j 
ligence, and gaiety; what better could one ask?? 
However, we shall find out each other's faults ; ten-^^^ 
der indulgence shall be our motto. 

"Chaeles Fekdtnand." ^I 

After having left Lj-ons, where she found two 
of her ladies-in-waiting, the Countess of HauteforttI 
and the Countess Charles de Bethisy, the Princess J 
Avent towards Moulins, where she arrived June 11. 
Evidences of sympathy and enthusiasm were seen 
everywhere along the route. The authorities, tliei 
people, the armj^, the National Guards, rivalled each 
other in their zeal to welcome the amiable young: 
Princess, who seemed like a rainbow after the storm. , 
Smiling and gracious, looking at everything through' 
the prism of illusion and hope, she fancied that the| 
nation was forever reconciled with its- King, that the . 
white flag had no rival to fear, and that the race of ' 
Saint Louis was once and forever established on the 
throne of France. How was it possible to doubt so 
many protestations of devotion and fidelity? There 
was such an accent of loyalty in every speech, such 
an expression of confidence, affection, and joy on j 



FB03f MABSEILLES TO FONTAINEBLEAU 57 

iveiy countenance! The young Princess felt tliat 
or her to suspect the future would be a sacrilege. 
She hoped, and she believed. 

Just as the Duchess of Berry was about to enter 
the department of Seine-et-Marne, where her first 
interview with her husband was to take place, Louis 
XYIII. published the following decree, dated at 
Fontainebleau, June 13, 1816 : — 

"Louis, etc. The department of Seine-et-Marne 
is full of monuments of religion and of monarchy. 
Melun has seen Clotilde, the daughter of its counts, 
placed by Providence on the throne of Clovis in order 
to p'ive Christian kinoes to France. It was for Melun 
that Saint Louis left Vincennes. Fontainebleau 
recalls the glorious times of Francis I. and of Louis 
XIY. Meaux has been the see of a bishop whose 
genius and virtues have raised him to an equality 
with the Fathers of the Church. Nearly every city, 
town, and simple village of this department has been 
the scene of some memorable event in the ancient 
wars of which Paris was the centre and the object. 
In these latter times we have been touched by the 
afflictions suffered by the inhabitants of Seine-et- 
INIarne, the patience with which they have endured 
them, and the marks of affection given us by so 
many faithful subjects abiding in their region. We 
wish to attest this by associating them in the 
rewards we have decreed to the National Guards of 
several departments, and we have chosen this period 
when we are going amongst them to receive our 
beloved daughter, the Duchess of Berry." 



58 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 

The Princess arrived at Nemours in tliS day- 1 
time, June 14. Her carriage was overflowing with 
flowers that had been presented on her journey. She 
was complimented and received by the Dukes of La 
Chatre, Maille, and Damas, who led her to the H6tel 
de Ville, where she was to pass the night, and pre- ; 
sented two of her ladies-in-waiting, the Countess of 
Lauriston and the Countess of Gourgues. The next 
day, June 15, she left Nemours, and passed through j 
the forest toward the crossroads of La Croix de Saint 
Herem. 



VII 

FONT A INEBLEAU 

rHE Duke of Berry was impatiently awaiting his 
young wife at Fontainebleau. He had written 
.er from there, June 12, 1816 : — 

" Your letter from Lyons, which was handed to me 
y the King, gave me inexpressible pleasure. I am 
harmed at your scolding me about my handwriting; 
-on are quite right; but when I write to you, my 
leart carries me away, and you have no idea of the 
rouble it gives me to be legible. Three days 
onger! I am burning to see you. To-day I feel a 
;'reat happiness ; I have your portrait. At the very 
'east, it cannot disfigure you; and even if it flatters 
^ou a little, one could be very agreeable without 
3eing so charming as this portrait." 

And again, June 14 : — 

"The Prince of Castelcicala has given me your 
letter from Moulins, which is still kinder than the 
others. To-morrow I shall see my Avife at last, my 
wife whose happiness is to be my work." 

After having cited this correspondence of the mar- 
ried pair who had not yet seen each other, Chateau- 
briand says : — 

•^ 59 



60 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



" Alas ! the Prince caused the unhappiness' of her 
whose felicity he aimed at. But who is to blame 
for it ? How this young couple loved France I What 
sincere gratitude (for it was well hidden in these let-- 
ters) for the homage paid them! Do these letters? 
contain a single word which the simplest, the noblest, 
the tenderest soul could disavow ? Who, in reading ; 
them, would not be glad to have those who wrote; 
them as brother and sister, as son and daughter?^ 
There was a touching resemblance in the destinies s 
of the Duke and Duchess of Berry; sprung from the.; 
same race, both Bourbons, both having seen the falll 
of their ancestral thrones, both having regained their ■ 
rank, they had known scarcely anything but exile; 
and misfortune before their marriage. Beaten by 
the same tempest, they had united to give each other ■ 
mutual support. After so many misfortunes the}'- 
sought some moments of happiness; their letters 
prove how cruel it was to tear it from them." 

The entire royal family Avere assembled at Fon- 
tainebleau, awaiting the Princess who was the object 
of so many hopes. June 14, there was a grand din- 
ner at the chateau in the Hall of Fetes. The beauty 
of this hall, which was built by Henri II., -added 
much to the splendor of the banquet. Sixty per- 
sons were admitted to the honor of dining at the 
royal table. During the repast the chapel band 
played Vive Henri IV. and Oharmante Crahrielle, 
At six o'clock an immense crowd was allowed to 
enter the hall and pass around the table. 



FONTAINEBLEAU 61 

The road from Fontainebleau to Nemours was 
thronged the next day from early dawn. The peas- 
ants in their holiday attire went to meet the Prin- 
cess and offer her bouquets. Musicians playing 
national airs wandered along the highway. The 
National Guards of the neighboring villages were 
under arms. 

The Princess had just passed through the town of 
Nemours. "Madame the Duchess of Berry is in the 
forest of Fontainebleau," said the Duchess of Reggio, 
her maid of honor. This simple remark produced an 
extraordinary effect upon the Princess. Listen to 
Chateaubriand on the subject : — 

" The first marriage pomps beneath the trees were 
charming. One would say that the descendants of 
the long-haired ^ kings have maintained a secret pre- 
dilection for forests ; it has pleased them to choose 
solitudes for their palaces and to have the enchant- 
ments of their courts overshadowed by great oaks. 
How many souvenirs must not Fontainebleau, where 
twenty-nine kings have lived since Robert, have 
offered to the young Princess! Saint Louis, the 
august chief of his race, had caused a hospital to be 
built there for the poor, among whom, as he said, he 
soudit Jesus Christ. Other centuries added the 
works of Charles the Victorious, and of Francis the 
restorer of learning, to those of the Saint. Henri 
IV. dated his letters from his delicious deserts of 

1 The Merovingian kings were thus styled. 



62 THi: DUCHESS OF BEEBY 

Fontainebleau. Louis XIII. embellished tliem still 
further. Then came the unfortunate Louis XVL, 
who covered the rocks with a mourning-veil of 
pines ; and thirty years later a Pope was imprisoned 
amidst these thickets where Louis XIV. had loved 
La Valliere, — and all these things, which for the 
rest of the world are history, were merely family 
traditions to the house of France." 

It was at Moret, near Fontainebleau, that on Sep- 
tember 4, 1725, Louis XV. saw his wife, Marie 
Leczinska, for the first time. It was at the cross - 
roaci*^ of La Croix de Saint Herem, in the forest of 
F<}utainebleau, that the Duchess of Berrj^ was about 
to meet her husband. Less than twelve years before 
-•^^ovember 25, 1804 — it was at the same place 
that Napoleon saw for the first time Poj)e Pius VII., 
who had come to France to crown him. Louis 
XVIII. had the same grand chamberlain as the 
Emperor, Prince Talleyrand, who was at the Cross 
of Saint Herem, June 15, 1816, as he had been No- 
vember 25, 1804. How many changes had occurred 
in less than a dozen years, while he, the spectator of 
so many vicissitudes, had always fulfilled the same 
functions! Such irremovability was more than 
strange and must have surprised even him who was 
its object! 

The crossroads of La Croix de Saint H^rem, 
where the Duke and Duchess of Berry were about to 
meet, is in the depths of the forest, about a league 
from Fontainebleau. Two superb tents had been set 



FONTAINEBLEA U 63 

\x]) there, one of which was intended for the royal 
family, and the other for the suite of the Duchess of 
^Berry. The first had been carpeted, and contained 
an armchair for the King, covered with sky-blue 
velvet, embroidered in gold, and twelve campstools 
for the princes and princesses of his family. 

Two carriages containing the members of her 
household preceded the open barouche in which sat 
the young Princess with the Duchess of Reggio, her 
lady of honor, and the Countess of La Ferronnays, 
her lady of the bedchamber. The Duchess of Reggio 
said to her: "I must inform Your Royal Higj^aess 
that we are about to arrive at the Cross of Sr.int 
Herem. There you will find the roj^al famMy." 
The carriage stopped in another instant. 'V^-*^ 
King is coming forward to meet Your Royal High- 
ness," added the lady of honor. On alighting from 
the carriage, the Princess Avas to be received accord- 
ing to the same etiquette as had been observed on 
the arrival of Queen Marie Leczinska. She was to 
cross, all alone, half of a carpet spread on the grass, 
while the King, leading the royal family, crossed the 
other half. But the lively Duchess found the solemn 
slowness of such a ceremonial tiresome. Recollect- 
ing the neutrality of the Marseilles H6tel de Ville, 
she asked in an undertone if the carpet was neutral. 
Then, springing forward with one bound toward the 
King, she threw herself at his knees, kissed his 
hands, and said something which he seemed to 
approve. Louis XVIII. raised her, pressed her to 



64 THE DUCHESS OF BERET 

his heart, and presented her to the Duchess of Angou- 
leme. The Duke of Berry advanced. "Nephew," 
said the King, " it is my daughter that I give you, 
whom I abeady love like a father. Make her 
happy." Then he joined their hands. The Duchess 
of Gontaut, a witness of this touching scene, says : 
"The two spouses looked at each other. What a 
moment, when each sought to divine what their 
whole life was to be! . . . She seemed to please 
him. ... I heard him say in a low tone to Madame 
de La Ferronnays: 'I shall love her. . . .' The 
moment when Monsieur held out his arms to his 
young daughter-in-laAV, and she implored his protec- 
tion and he promised it, was strikingly affecting. 
Monseigneur, seeing that the Princess was frightened, 
spoke to her in a gracious tone that reassured her. 
He seemed to please her. She said to me that 
she found him better looking than his portrait which 
had been sent to her at Naples." 

The young Princess produced the most favorable 
impression. Her kindly and prepossessing face, 
large blue eyes, and curling fair hair made her very 
charming. She wore a diadem of fine pearls sur- 
mounted by a wreath of roses. The weather had 
been misty all the morning, but at the moment of 
the interview the sun came out brilliantly. The 
uniforms, the feathers, and the ladies' dresses glit- 
tered. The whole open space was crowded with 
generals and officers of the King's household. The 
troops on duty were the body-guards, the Hundred 



FONTAINEBLEAU 65 

SAvitzers, and two hundred grenadiers of the infantry 
guard. The princes seemed to have attained the 
summit of felicity. Never had such satisfaction 
been visible on the face of Louis XVIII. The 
interview, which took place at half past two, lasted 
ten minutes. Then the King returned to Fontaine- 
bleau, taking the Duke and Duchess of Berry with 
him in his carriage, as well as the Duke and Duchess 
of Angouleme. They entered the chateau through 
the court of the Cheval Blmic^ where three regiments 
of the royal guard were drawn up in battle array: 
the lancers, the hussars, and the first infantry regi- 
ment. The principal door of the perron of the stairs 
called the Fer-d- Cheval was adorned with flowers so 
arranged as to form a portico, the plinths and the 
inner side of the arch being symmetrically diversi- 
fied and shaded, and the w^ords, "Long live the 
King! " traced in china-asters. The royal guard 
celebrated the arrival of a Bourbon princess on the 
same spot Avhere Napoleon uttered his pathetic and 
memorable farewell to the imperial guard. 

What changes two years had brought about ! The 
spectators were thoughtful. 

During the whole evening the courts of the chateau 
were filled with countless crowds. At six o'clock 
the King sat down at table, and the public were 
admitted to the honor of seeing him dine. The 
Duchess of Berry, who was on the monarch's left, 
beside her husband, was the centre of observation. 
After dinner Louis XVIII. showed himself at one of 



6Q THE DUCHESS OF BERET 

the windows of the Hall of the Guards which gives 
on to the oval court, that court of marvellous archi- 
tecture Avhose entrance gate is the baptistery of 
Louis XIII. After making signs of good will to 
the crowd who were crying, " Long live the King ! " 
he took the Duchess of Berry by the hand and pre- 
sented her to the people. She responded b}^ a grace- 
ful salute to the demonstrations of joy made on 
beholding her. In the evening there w^as dancing 
on the public squares and the town was illuminated. 
The favorite city of Francis I. - enchanted the 
Duchess of Berry. Nowhere in France, and perhaps 
nowhere else in the world, is there a residence so 
picturesque and charming, so full of poetry and 
souvenirs, as Fontainebleau. The forest is a great 
Avonder of nature, and the palace a great miracle of 
art. A nameless spell proceeds from this magnifi- 
cent abode which penetrates the soul. There one 
sees the power of man triumph, and still more that 
of God. No spot could have been better adapted to 
dazzle the young Princess and impress her imagina- 
tion. As she crossed the threshold of the legendary 
palace, it seemed as though all the glorious centuries 
of France rose to life and bade her welcome. Prima- 
ticcio's frescoes in the luminous Hall of Fetes were 
suitable to the splendors of a joyful marriage. T]ie 
art-lover was enchanted. The Italian woman en- 
joyed the palace so dear to Catherine and Maria de' 
Medici. She admitted that what had been told her 
concerning the pomp and splendor of the court of 



FONTAINEBLEAU 67 

France was not an exaggeration. Sincerely moved 
by the joy apparent on all faces, by the paternal wel- 
come of the King, the affection displayed by her hus- 
band, and the respectful sympathy shown by all 
classes of society, she thought it would be easy to 
become the idol of the French nation. She slept at 
the palace of Fontainebleau on Saturday, June 15. 
Her husband did not pass the night there, custom for- 
bidding a married pair to sleep under the same roof 
until after the celebration of the religious marriage. 
On Sunday morning, June 16, she departed with the 
entire royal family to make, on the same day, her 
formal entry into Paris. 



VIII 



THE ENTRY INTO PAETS 



FOR several weeks the marriage of the Duke of 
Berry had been the universal topic of conversa- 
tion at Paris. June 5, 1816, M. Charles de R^musat 
wrote to his mother : — 

" We are all thinking about the marriage. Every- 
body goes to see the corbeille, the robes, and the 
trousseau. We expect to be very gay at the wed- 
ding, and to sing and dance a good deal ; I hope we 
may." 

And the former mistress of the Empress Jose- 
phine's household replied, June 11, from Toulouse, 
where her husband was prefect : — 

"I hope Providence will protect us, but we have 
great need of it; for these poor French no longer 
know what they are doing. I see nobody but the 
Duke of Berry who really does what he should do. 
He is getting married; he will give us sons and 
daughters; he will enliven us; I await all your 
accounts most impatiently. I am sure that the King 
and our Princess will be charming in this family 
festivity, and that the joy of the Parisians will be 
very sincere. Probably it will be the first genuine 
sentiment they have felt in a long while." 



THE ENTRY INTO PARIS 69 

The Moniteur of June 4 described the visit of the 
princes to the Hotel des Menus- Plaisirs to examine 
the trousseau and wedding presents of the bride. A 
pedestal covered with red velvet drapery stood on a 
platform of white marble. A lily stalk, surmounted 
by a wheatsheaf embroidered in gold, sprang from, 
each corner of it. On its four faces were the arms of 
the two houses of Bourbon and the interlaced mono- 
grams of the spouses. On top of it was a clump 
of greensward whence issued a colossal lily with 
golden leaves and silver flowers. This was called 
the corbeille. On all sides of it were baskets laden 
with garlands of flowers and cashmere shawls. The 
wedding dress, embroidered in silver and adorned 
with diamonds, a white cut velvet mantle similarly 
adorned, a tulle robe embroidered with pearls, and 
another with steel, were especially admired. All 
the fashionable women of Paris were in ecstasies 
over those wonderful toilettes. 

The King, hearing that the city wished to make a 
grand display of fireworks on the occasion of the 
marriage, expressed a desire that the funds intended 
for this purpose should be expended in a more use- 
ful manner, and one calculated to produce durable 
results. It was decided, in consequence, that on the 
day of the Prince's marriage, fourteen poor orphans, 
born in Paris, should be married and endowed by the 
city with fifty louis each. On Saturday, June 15, 
in Saint John's Hall at the H6tel de Ville, the sig- 
natures were affixed to the fifteen marriage contracts. 



70 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

Count de Chabrol, prefect of the Seine, addressed 
tlie intending couples as follows : — 

"Young spouses, the touching ceremony which 
brings you hither, causes your hearts to thrill with 
joy and gratitude. Your marriage is to be celebrated 
under the happiest auspices, because it associates 
you in a way with the august ceremony of the mar- 
riage of a Prince and Princess who are the hope and 
ornament of France. Some day it will be sweet for 
you to remember, in the bosom of a happy household, 
that you owe your happiness to the fortunate and 
ever-memorable epoch of an august union by which 
all the wishes of France are crowned. You will 
bring up your children to love our good King, and 
feel for him those sentiments of devotion and respect 
which are due to his sacred person. . . . His 
Majesty deigns to permit you to be present as he 
passes by to go to Notre Dame for the marriage cere- 
mony of the Duke and Duchess of Berry. You will 
have the happiness of beholding his cherished feat- 
ures. In his presence you will feel your young 
hearts inflamed with a new love for his august per- 
son, and you will go back to your homes repeating 
that cry of gratitude and love so dear to all French- 
men: Long live the King! " 

The Odeon, Gaite, Ambigu, Varietes, and Porte 
Saint Martin theatres gave plays composed for the 
occasion in the evening of June 15. The Chemin 
de Fontainebleau, by MM. Georges Duval and 
Rochefort, produced at the Oddon, seems to have 



THE ENTRY INTO PABIS 71 

been very successful. Speaking of this charming 
trifle, the Moniteur of June 17, said: — 

" Much laughter was caused by the character of a 
newsmonger of a gamekeeper who could predict no 
misfortunes except for Tonquin and Cochin China. 
The vaudeville that terminates this little piece is 
ingenious and very effective. The couplets succes- 
sively designate the monarch who reunites the wis- 
dom and virtues of the best of his royal ancestors, 
the Prince who has given us the model of chivalrous 
freedom and French gallantry, the Antigone of our 
days, the heroic deliverer of the South, and finally 
the hap23y couple to whom Heaven will grant the 
favor of augmenting the number of the inheritors of 
Henri IV. A transparency lights up at the refrain 
of each couplet and displays the features of the jDcr- 
son to whom homage has just been paid. These 
pictures were received with unanimous applause. It 
is true that every spectator thought himself on the 
Fontainebleau road, and it was the same idea which 
caused one of our journals to remark that the piece 
of MM. Georges Duval and Rochefort would cause 
the public to take the road to the Odeon very often." 

The Duchess of Berry was to make her formal 
entry into Paris on Sunday, June 16, 1816. It was 
the feast of Corpus Christi. It was raining so hard 
the previous evening that fears Avere entertained lest 
the solemnities of the following day should be 
spoiled. We have at hand a letter addressed to 
his wife by the Baron of Fremilly, peer of France, 



72 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

which has been communicated to us by his great- 
grandson, our friend the Marquis of Pimodan. It 
describes well the feeling of the moment: — ' 

" Saturday Evening, June 15. 

" All Paris is in tears and fears \_dans les larmes 
et dans les alarmes']. It rains! And the proces- 
sions, the cortege, the illuminations, and the mar- 
vels of the royal faubourg ! Do you know what the 
royal faubourg is? The Faubourg Saint-Antoine, 
which not knowing how else to wash off its original 
sin, has unbaptized itself. Madame de Damas, who 
has just come from there, was overjoyed by eight thou- 
sand workmen who have assessed themselves twenty 
sous a head in order to make porticos, garlands, 
cupids, doves, and a thousand other things which they 
are so secret about, that these good people spend all 
day in their workrooms and watch all night, in 
order that their whole fabric, of which there is not 
as yet a vestige to be seen, shall spring up at a 
whistle, and the King, who pays them the compli- 
ment of entering by their gate, shall have the first 
sight of it." 

By eight o'clock in the morning of June 16, the 
Parisian National Guard was under arms. The 
inhabitants of all the streets through which the pro- 
cession of the Blessed Sacrament was to pass, had 
adorned their houses with tapestries, hangings, 
branches, religious emblems, and devout pictures. 
Magnificent repositories had been arranged. That 



THE EXTRY INTO PARIS 73 

which had been prepared at the Luxembourg palace 
for the procession of Saint Sulpice overlooked the 
rue de Tournon and produced the most beautiful 
effect. At ten o'clock the processions began to 
move from all parts of the capital. At two, the 
twelve legions of the National Guard repaired to the 
posts assigned them. The troops formed a double 
line from the Barrier of the Throne as far as the Car- 
rousel. The weather, which had been threatening 
in the morning, and rainy tow\ard noon, became 
splendid at three o'clock. A good omen! cried 
the flatterers of the new Duchess. At four o'clock 
the cannon of Vincennes announced the coming of 
the ro3'al famil}^, and the procession which was to 
precede it formed at the Barrier of the Throne. In 
front marched the staff-officers of the place ; then a 
detachment of National Guards from the adjacent 
departments, a regiment of dragoons, the Berry 
hussars, the staff-officers of the royal guard, com- 
manded by the Marshal Duke of Reggio, the mounted 
National Guard, the first carriages of the cortege, the 
body-guards, the barouche of the King, who had the 
Duchess of Angouleme on his left, and the Duke 
and Duchess of Berry opposite; Monsieur, Count of 
Artois and the Duke of Angouleme rode beside the 
carriage doors. The mounted grenadiers of the 
guard, some detachments of gendarmes, and the 
court carriages closed the march. 

A halt was made at the Barrier of the Throne, 
where the prefect of the Seine made a speech. 



74 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

A numerous group of young girls, chosen from the 
twelve arrondissements of Paris, afterwards offered 
flowers to the new Duchess, and six of them sang 
one of Cherubini^s cantatas. Then the cortege 
moved on, advancing with majestic slowness under 
a double arch of white flags adorned with royalist 
emblems, and greeted by the acclamations of an 
innumerable crowd filling the whole space which 
separates the end of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine 
from the palace of the Tuileries. As the King and 
his family were crossing the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, 
and just opposite the rue Saint Bernard, where the 
church of Saint Marguerite is situated, they met the 
Abbe Dubois, cur^ of that parish, accompanied by 
his clergy. The royal carriage having stopped, the 
cure presented holy water and incense. Then, hav- 
ing called the King's attention to the fact that all 
the houses of this faubourg of the common people 
were draped, he said : " Sire, these are not the tapes- 
tries of the Louvre, but they express the purest, sin- 
cerest love of the inhabitants of this quarter for Your 
Majesty and all the royal family." 

Louis XVIII. replied: "Their homage is all the 
more affecting to me, and the people of the Faubourg 
Saint-Antoine could not have a better interpreter 
than you." The procession passed on to the boule- 
vard of the Temple. In front of the Apollo caf^ a 
rope had been stretched across the boulevard. At 
the moment of the King's passage, an acrobat, 
dressed as a warrior, sprang onto this rope, and 



TUE ENTEY INTO PARIS 75 

ch'opped a crown on his head. The Gaite, Ambigu, 
and Porte Saint Martin theatres had erected scaffold- 
ings on wliich were groups of musicians playing 
Vive Henri IV. The further they advanced along 
the boulevards, the more fully they found them 
decorated with white flags and royalist emblems. 
The young Duchess was completely dazzled and sur- 
prised. The cortege entered the Tuileries at about 
half -past six tln^ough the Louvre gate. Louis 
XVIII. conducted the Duchess of Berry to the 
Pavilion of Marsan, where she was to spend the 
night, the Duke meanwhile repairing to the Elysde, 
the sjDouses not being allowed to dwell under the 
same roof before the religious marriage. 

The next day M. Charles de Remusat wrote his 
mother the following account of the entry of the 
Princess: "We were at the wedding, my dear 
mother ; we were at the wedding, and you were not ! 
Our Princess came to us yesterday. I will not 
recount to you all that you can read in the journals. 
The King was received with admirable enthusiasm 
at Fontainebleau and all along the road. The Grand 
Chamberlain (M. de Talleyrand) was in the carriage 
with him, and took the place of first gentleman ; he 
took everything; which occasions a good deal of 
talk, I don't know why; it is etiquette. As for 
him, they say he w^as as charming as possible, laugh- 
ing, amusing the King, telling a thousand stories, 
perfectly at ease, with nothing ministerial about 
him, and especially nothing to suggest a minister 



76 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

in disgrace. When the Princess threw herself at 
the King's feet, the King said to her: 'You are very 
good-looking! ' Then he said to the Duke of Befry : 
'Here is the wife God gives you.' He wrote to the 
Minister of Police: ' The Duke of Berry is in love 
with the Princess, and we are all of us his rivals.' — 
Yesterday, in the procession, he looked like a bride- 
groom ; his face was serene ; he was content, — more 
content, on my word, than his nephew. The Duch- 
ess looks very young; she is very white and very 
thin ; whom do you think she is fearfully like, though 
on a small scale? Eh! on my honor, the eldest 
daughter of the Emperor of Austria! Those who 
have seen her in Provence and at Lyons say she 
squints, which would be unpleasant. But, so far, 
we have not noticed it at Paris. They say she is 
still younger in character than in age, and very 
intelligent and simple. The Duke of Berry sleeps 
to-night at our Elysde. To-morrow the marriage 
will take place before the altar and elsewhere." 

To sum up, the formal entry of the young Duchess 
had passed off very well. The coincidence between 
the Fete Dieu and the royal fete had been fortunate. 
While the cannons were thundering in token of joy, 
and the bells were pealing their merriest, the chasu- 
bles of the priests, the young girls' white frocks, and 
the military uniforms presented a picturesque appear- 
ance. It was the double apotheosis of the altar and 
the throne. Incense had been burned to God and 
to the King. 



IX 



THE MARRIAGE 



ON Sunday, June 17, 1816, Paris was en fete 
from early dawn. The marriage of the Duke 
and Duchess of Berry was to be celebrated that 
day at Notre Dame. In the morning, an article 
signed b}^ M. Charles Nodier appeared in the Bebats, 
in which it was said : — 

" Yes, the Bourbons are still more our relatives than 
our masters, or rather, they reign over the French 
by an hereditary right which the}^ have never used 
except to make us happy ; and when they marry off 
their childi-en, none but those who have abjured the 
name of Frenchmen or who have not the honor to 
bear it, can be indifferent to the cause of public joy. 
The rest share in their happiness as if it were a 
family festivity." 

The sun rose in a cloudless sky. The weather 
was magnificent. At eight in the morning the bat- 
talions of the Parisian National Guard, the royal 
guard, and the departmental legions entered the 
open space in front of the metropolitan church, and 
then formed into double lines, reaching from Notre 
Dame Place as far as the Tuileries. In front of the 

77 



78 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

cathedral there is a portico of sixteen columns sur- 
mounted by an amphitheatre Avhich contained musi- 
cians and sj^ectators. The interior of the church 
was brilliant. The lateral fascise of the nave 
were decorated with the interlaced monograms and 
escutcheons of the Duke and Duchess of Berry and 
those of France and Navarre, supported by angels 
boldly outlined above the pointed arches. Gilded 
escutcheons bearing the names of the good cities of 
the realm, adorned with captured spears, and sur- 
mounted by mural crowns and heralds' rods, were 
attached to the immense columns. The choir was 
superbly decorated. Around its circumference, on 
panels of Languedoc marble, fourteen medallions 
represented a series of allegorical subjects pertaining 
to the events of Louis XVIII. 's reign. On the 
capitals of the small columns supporting the gal- 
leries above the choir, were magnificent trophies, 
before each of which hung blue oriflammes adorned 
with pictures of various holy personages, among 
them the patron saints of the two spouses. In the 
choir were six angels in bronze on white marble 
pedestals; Louis XVIII. 's coat of arms was embla- 
zoned on the base of the statues of Louis XIII. and 
Louis XIV. ; a Christ nine feet high in silver-gilt 
rose from the steps of the altar. Savonnerie carpets 
covered the pavements of the choir and nave, and a 
profusion of lamp-stands, girandoles, and rock crys- 
tal chandeliers bearing numberless candles were dis- 
tributed throusfhout the whole edifice. 



THE MARIilAGE 79 



The procession left the Tuileries at half-past 
eleven. One noticed in it the staff of the First Mili- 
tary Division, the staff of the National Guard, some 
detachments of the military household, and the royal 
guard. There were thirty-six carriages; twenty- 
four from the King's stables, and twelve from those 
of Monsieur. All the houses on the line of march 
were draped. At noon discharges of cannon, peals 
of hells, and the cheers of the crowd announced the 
arrival of the procession in front of Notre Dame. 
Abbe Jalabert, at the head of the metropolitan chap- 
ter, addressed Louis XVIII. at the entrance of the 
church. The King replied : " I am much affected by 
the sentiments of the chapter of Paris. It is to con- 
secrate the happiness of my people that I have 
wished that a union so dear to my heart should be 
celebrated in the metropolitan church, under the 
invocation of the Mother of God, the august pa- 
troness of this church, and the protectress of France 
and my family." 

The King then advanced processionally, under a 
canopy, as far as the choir. He wore a uniform 
heavily embroidered in gold ; the Duke of Angou- 
leme, that of a lord-high-admiral; Monsieur, the 
silver-embroidered uniform of a colonel-general of 
the National Guard; the Prince of Conde, the white 
uniform of a colonel-general of French infantry ; and 
the Duke of Berry, the grand court-costume, a coat 
of cloth-of-gold, lace cravat, silk stockings, and man- 
tle. The toilette of the Duchess was adorned with 
the finest of the croAvn jewels. 



80 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

The royal family took their places in the choir. 
The King's chaplain-in-ordinary, Abbe de Ville- 
neuve, said Mass. The Duke and Duchess of E^rry 
went forward to the oblation after the celebrant had 
offered the paten to the sovereign to be kissed. A 
candle in which were fastened some gold pieces, 
whose number and value were prescribed by ancient 
usage, had been presented in the name of the two 
spouses. The Grand Almoner of France gave the 
nuptial benediction. The canopy was upheld by 
Mgr. de Latil, Bishop of Amiclee, Monsieur's first 
almoner, and by Abbe de Bombelles, first almoner to 
the Duchess of Berry. The four witnesses were 
Marshal Victor, Duke of Belluna, representing the 
army; Count Barthelemy, the Chamber of Peers; M. 
Bellart, the Chamber of Deputies; M. de Seze, the 
Court of Cassation. The Grand Almoner delivered a 
discourse in which he celebrated the royal family, — 
"that family not alone grand beyond comparison, the 
most illustrious in the universe, but also the kindest 
and most paternal that ever was." He exclaimed 
enthusiastically: "Yes, Lord, this is truly the special 
work of Thy mercy, and an admiring silence alone 
befits our gratitude." After exhorting the bride to 
join the prudence of Rebecca to the amiability of 
Rachel, the goodness of Esther to the fidelity of Sara, 
he thus terminated his discourse : " Be thou blessed, 
O Princess, daughter of our Kings ! A French- 
woman by the blood flowing in your veins, and the 
sentiments it has transmitted, which to-day return to 



THE MARRIAGE 81 



their source to be still further strengthened and per- 
fected, it is in the name of all France, in the name 
of this brave and religious Prince, and of that heroic 
Princess in whose company you will find such virtu- 
ous examples, that we address to you the prophetic 
desires faithfully accomplished by the holy family: 
Soror nostra es, crescas in mille millia. You are of 
our nation, by your origin you belong to us, you are 
our sister; increase in a thousand ways; multiply 
the scions of a stem so dear to us; be fruitful in 
saints and heroes I May the princes to be born of 
you ever follow in the steps of their ancestors, 
triumph by courage and virtue over all their enemies, 
and forever assure the welfare of peoples and the 
glory of religion! " 

The ceremony was over. Salvos of artillery an- 
nounced the King's return to the palace at half-past 
three. 

In the evening there was a royal game of cards in 
the Tuileries at seven o'clock, and a state dinner at 
night in the private theatre at nine. More than six 
huncbed persons were in the gallery, where thirty 
card-tables were set. Louis XVIII. played with 
the Duchess of Angouleme, the Duchess of Berry, 
and several other ladies. M. d'Avaray had also the 
honor of being one of the King's party. The royal 
repast was afterwards served according to the ancient 
ceremonial. Only the royal princes and princesses 
sat down at the King's table; the princes of the 
blood were not admitted. The Duke of Bourbon, 



82 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

who as Grand Master of France should have presided 
at the feast, was replaced by the Grand Chamberlain, 
Prince Talleyrand. 

The King was served by the Duke of Escars, first 
maitre d' hotel. When he desired to drink, his cup- 
bearer announced it in a loud voice. Behind his 
armchair stood the Grand Almoner, the Grand 
Chamberlain, and other persons entitled to do so by 
their places at court. Everybody remained stand- 
ing, except the duchesses, who were supplied with 
stools. Towards the end of the repast the King's 
musicians executed several pieces and cantatas com- 
posed for the occasion, and the diplomatic body 
passed before the King, who addressed some remarks 
to nearly all the representatives of the Powers, espe- 
cially to the Duke of Wellington. 

At ten o'clock the King left the table. People 
thought he was fatigued. Not at all. At half-past 
ten he called for- a carriage. He proposed to accom- 
pany the wedded pair to the Elysee palace and then 
return to the Tuileries by the Champs-Elys^es, to 
see the illuminations, which were splendid. The 
principal architectural lines of the Tuileries were 
defined by bands of light. The Temple of Hymen in 
the garden was much admired. Transparencies rep- 
resenting the arms of France upborne by genii with 
garlands of olive and lily crowned the pediments of 
the fagade. Forty-four columns covered with lan- 
terns and linked together by bands of flame gave to 
this radiant monument the aspect of a temple built 
by fairies. 



THE EARLY DAYS OF MARKIAGE 

THE impression produced by the young Princess 
was excellent. From the day of her entrance 
into Paris, her white robe, the clustering white 
feathers of her head-dress, her skin, fair as her robe, 
her infantine and pleasing face, the mingled grace 
and dignity of her bearing, had excited admiration. 
Baron de Fri^milly wrote concerning her: "Taken 
all together, she is very agreeable, and seems all the 
more so because we had been told that she was ugly, 
which she certainly is not." People thought her 
wonderfully well dressed at the ceremony at Notre 
Dame, and full of modesty and charm. Baron de 
Fremilly wrote again: "As to the little Duchess, 
all Paris is as much in love with her as her husband 
is, which is no small thing to say. She has health, 
gaiety, wit, grace, and candor." 

The first days of marriage were spent amidst con- 
tinual festivities. The court was full of jollity, and 
every good courtier was bound to seem enchanted. 

June 18. — The newly wedded pair, who had 
installed themselves at the Elysee the day before, 
breakfasted at the Tuileries with the King, the Count 

83 



84 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

of Artois, and the Duke and Duchess of Angouleme. 
The diplomatic bodies were presented when Mass 
was over, and the Duchess of Berry afterwards 
received fifty young girls dressed in white, who 
offered her, on behalf of the Twelfth Arrondissement 
(the Faubourg Saint-Marceau), a large basket of 
flowers in the midst of which were two turtle-doves 
softly bedded in roses, pansies, and immortelles. 
Vt three o'clock the husband and wife returned to 
the Elysee, to go from there to Saint Cloud. The 
carelessness of the coachman caused an accident 
which, happily, had no ill consequences. In pass- 
ing through the gate of the rue de I'Echelle, the 
carriage struck violently against a post, and the wheel 
broke, but neither the Duke nor the Duchess received 
any injury. They dined at Saint Cloud with the 
royal family, the table being laid for forty persons. 
The principal officers of the Crown, Marshal Mac- 
donald, the captains of the guards, the chief nobility, 
and several ladies and gentlemen of the court were 
admitted to the King's table. The Duke and Duch- 
ess drove around tlie park in an open carriage, saw 
the great waterworks in play, and returned in the 
evening to the Elysee. 

June 19. — M. Charles de Remusat wrote to his 
mother: "Our marriage is concluded, and Avlien once 
this evening's ball and to-morrow's review are over, 
no one will think any more about it. Everybody is 
greatly pleased. The festivities have been less bois- 
terous than gay. The j)eople displayed a good will 



THE EARLY BAYS OF MABBIAGE 85 

and subdued J03- which were in very good taste, and 
a Iiundred times preferable to convulsive enthu- 
siasm." The ball at the Tuileries Avas magnificent. 
It took place in the private theatre, which was lighted 
up by eighteen large chandeliers. All the columns 
were hung with garlands. A circle of richly dressed 
ladies filled the first seats of the three tiers of boxes. 
The Duke of Angouleme opened the ball w^ith the 
Duchess of Berry. 

June 20. — A review on the Champ-de-IMars. 
Benediction and distribution of flags to the royal 
guard. The King, in the uniform of a colonel- 
general of the guard, left the palace of the Tuileries 
at 12,30, having the Duchesses of Angouleme and 
Berry with him in his open carriage. Monsieur 
the Count of Artois and his two sons accompanied 
the carriao-e on horseback. On arrivinor at the 
Champ-de-Mars, Louis XYIII. was greeted by Mar- 
shal Macdonald, Duke of Tarento, major-general of 
the guard. He passed the troops in review and then 
sat down on his throne. The colonels advanced one 
b^^one. Marshal Clarke, Duke of Feltre and Minister 
of War, presented the flags to the sovereign, who, 
aided by his brother, inclined the head of the staff 
first to the Duchess of Angouleme and then to the 
Duchess of Berr}', The two Princesses successively 
attached the tassels to the flags and standards, which 
were then given back by Louis XVIII. to the colonels, 
who, escorted by picked companies from all the regi- 
ments, repaired to the altar that had been erected in 



THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 



the Champ-de-Mars. The Grand Almoner of France 
there blessed the flags and standards amidst salvos of 
artillery from the royal guards, pronouncing j3,fter- 
wards an address in which he said : — 

" Gentlemen, it is not enough for the royal guard 
to be the first to set the whole army an example of 
all warlike virtues ; they ought also to be the model 
of the virtues of religion. A soldier of the royal 
guard should be a Christian soldier, not less solici- 
tous to serve God than to serve his King; as exact 
in fulfilling the essential obligations of religion as 
in obedience to the orders of his chiefs ; seeking to 
save his soul as well as to perform his military 
duties, he should be convinced that iDiety in camps, 
far from being a defect liable to weaken souls, 
reassures them, on the contrary, and makes them 
strong." 

When the review was over, the King caused 
Marshal Macdonald to approach, and said to 
him : — 

" Marshal, tell my royal guard how pleased I am 
with the order, perfect discipline, and excellent 
spirit I have observed in all the regiments. Add 
that I feel certain they will defend unto death the 
flags they have just received from their father and 
their King. Tell them, moreover, that like the 
knights of old, they should remember the hands that 
fastened on their tassels." 

In returning from the Champ-de-Mars the crowd 
halted on the Place Louis XV. to witness a balloon 



THE EARLY BAYS OF MARRIAGE 87 

ascension. Mademoiselle Garnerin went up in a bas- 
ket of flowers which served her as a car. While the 
balloon was rising, the young aeronaut saluted the 
palace of the Tuileries by waving a white flag embla- 
zoned with lilies, and by scattering among the mul- 
titude couplets and verses celebrating the marriage 
of the Duke and Duchess of Berry. 

On the same day (June 20), the municipality of 
Paris came to the Elysee to congratulate the married 
pair, and, in conformity with an ancient custom, to 
offer them the gifts of the city, consisting of perfumed 
torches of white wax, and dried fruits. "Monsei- 
gneur, Madame," said the prefect of the Seine, "the 
municipality of Paris, in presenting its respectful 
felicitations to Your Royal Highnesses, comes to 
offer you the same presents which our fathers offered 
to your ancestors. This modest homage, consecrated 
by the ancient usage of the monarchy, attests the 
simplicity and moderation of our august masters. 
We have preserved its character with religious 
respect, assured that the offering which comes from 
the heart is the only one that would be worthy of 
you and that could be accepted." 

June 21. — Gala representation at the Opera: Les 
Dieiix rivaux, ou la Fete de Cytliere^ an operatic ballet 
in one act, a singular mixture of mythology and 
royal ism. 

June 22. — The Duke of Berry gave the royal 
family a fete and a dinner at Bagatelle. During the 
day there was hunting in the Bois de Boulogne. 



88 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 

June 23. — Theatricals at the court. The opera 
troupe phayecl the Caravane. 

While these festivities were in progress, the more 
or less sincere enthusiasm of the official world was 
displayed in speeches and addresses which renewed, 
almost word for word, the wishes, the homage, and 
the predictions promising the advent of the golden 
age in France, which had been used six years before 
at the marriage of Napoleon and Marie Louise. 
Nevertheless, there were many dark clouds in this 
apparently serene sky. The government was carry- 
ing out a revengeful system. Throughout the king- 
dom the assize and provost courts and the councils 
of war were pronouncing sentences of death. The 
pardons granted on account of the marriage of the 
Duke of Berry extended to none of those condemned 
for political offences. As has been remarked by a 
royalist historian, M. Alfred Nettement, the public 
mind remained disunited and uneasy, passions were 
inflamed, parties irreconcilable, and the festivities, 
like fire-works set off in darkness, only lighted up 
the shadows of the situation for a moment, without 
causing them to disappear. 



XI 



THE TUILERIES 



THE Duchess of Berry was not sorry not to live 
in the Tuileries palace, a gloomy abode in spite 
of its eclat, where many intrigues, jealousies, and 
rivalries were concealed under an appearance of 
inflexible discipline and absolute tranquillity. The 
royal family, so united according to official reports, 
was in reality divided against itself. Two opposite 
systems confronted each other, and Louis XVIII. 
was the constant object of criticisms, all the keener 
because they were obliged to remain secret. Between 
the King and his brother there existed a latent 
rivalry, dating back to the old regime, and daily 
becoming too prominent for any shrewd observer to 
fail to notice it. If the Duchess of Berry had lived 
much longer with them, she would have found it 
difficult to satisfy both her uncle and her father-in- 
law. 

Louis XVIII. had long been tormented with a 
gouty tendency which frequently endangered his 
life. The ambitious fancied that in rallying to the 
party of which the heir to the throne was the secret 
head, they were playing a skilful game and opening 

89 



90 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

tlie ways to fortune in the near future. Kept 
informed of all that was going on by his favorite, 
Count Decazes, Minister of Police, the King was 
not ignorant of the offensive speeches the royatists 
made about him, nor of the joy they manifested 
whenever disquieting rumors got about concerning 
the state of his health. He was profoundly embit- 
tered by all this, and had as little confidence in his 
own family as in the set around him. 

Such a situation imposed extreme reserve on the 
attitude and language of the courtiers. Their ante- 
cedents were too widely diverse to permit their talk- 
ing politics together. All conversation of that sort 
would necessarily have contained wounding allu- 
sions. Even praise was dangerous. To laud Louis 
XVIII. , the King of to-day, was implicitly to con- 
demn Monsieur, the King of to-morrow. Criticism 
was more difficult still. For some time it had been 
good form to insult Buonaparte, But this fashion 
could not last. What family, in fact, had been un- 
represented in the ranks of the imperial army? how 
many great lords and ladies had held no place in the 
Emperor's household or those of the Empresses? 
Napoleon was no longer insulted at court; a pre- 
tence of forgetfulness was made, but at every instant 
some importunate souvenir of him sprang to life. 

In bringing men of the most widely diverse parties 
around him, Louis XVIII. had required them to 
respect each other. Any allusion to former disputes 
would have been severely repressed. Political quar- 



THE TUILEUIES 91 



reLs, so lieated elsewhere, Avere extinguished on the 
threshokl of the Tuileries, where reigned those 
ancient traditions of politeness, so long the boast 
of French society. When they met in small parties 
away from the palace, the emujres and ultras gave 
way to their customar}^ Avranglings, but their behav- 
ior at the Tuileries was always irreproachable. 
Though a man might cordially hate M. Decazes, yet 
he was respectful to him, because M. Decazes Avas 
the minister of the King. 

As an epoch of transition and amalgamation 
between the most w^idely diveree elements, the 
Restoration is assuredly one of the most singular 
periods in history. Two rival worlds encounter 
each other here : the last glimmer of the old regime 
and the daw^n of the parliamentary system; the 
fusion betw^een French ideas and English manners ; 
the conflict between religious minds and the Vol- 
tairians, between the partisans of throne and altar 
and the revolutionists; between the white flag and 
the tricolor. From the social, political, and liter- 
ary point of view, never had there been such a bril- 
liant shower of sparks produced by the concussion 
of beliefs, opinions, principles, and ideas. But 
such debates were impossible at court, wdiere the 
soldiers of Condc's army lived in perfect harmony 
with the volunteer republicans of 1792. The pro- 
motion of the marshals of France, Avhich took place 
on the occasion of the Duke of Berry's marriage, 
contained four titularies : two emigres^ — the Duke of 



92 THE DUCHESS OF BEUBY 

Coigny and the Count Yiomenil, and two soldiers-of 
the Revolution and the Empire, — Bournonville and 
Charke, each of whom had been Minister of War, 
one during the Terror, and the other during the hist 
days of Napoleon's reign. 

Among those of the old regime who presented 
themselves at court a mino^led feeling of satisfac- 
tion and of bitterness prevailed. They were glad to 
have recovered their houses and castles, their titles 
and honors. Past catastrophes gave a special savor 
to the moral and material well-being they enjoyed 
after so many trials. It pleased them to have been 
proved in the right against both republicans and 
imperialists. They said to themselves: I saw how 
it would be. My predictions are fulfilled. The 
usurper is at Saint Helena. The regicides are in 
exile. The old aristocracy has risen to life again 
although its enemies believed it dead. The Fau- 
bourg Saint-Germain sets the fashion. Bonaparte's 
quondam generals are very proud of being chamber- 
lains or chief equerries of the King. The marshals 
think more of the blue ribbon of the order of the 
Holy Ghost than of the red ribbon of the Legion of 
Honor. The former officers of the imperial guard 
aspire after the cross of Saint Louis. 

But the joy of the royalists was not unmixed. 
They found their triumph incomplete. It was quite 
another sort of Restoration that they had imagined. 
Louis XVIII. was not a king according to their own 
hearts. They would have accused him of Bonapart- 



THE TUILEBIES 93 



ism and Jacobinism if they had dared. They thouglit 
him nngiateful to^ya^d tlie eiiwjres and the Ven- 
deans. While the five chiklren of Cathelineau, the 
commander-in-chief of the Vendean army, vegetated 
in poverty, Robespierre's sister received an annual 
pension of six thousand francs. The government did 
not even pay the expenses of the last campaign in 
Vendee, that of 1815, which had, nevertheless, been 
undertaken only by the King's command, and they 
had to be met by the officers. And yet at the same 
time, the arrears due for the expenses of the Republic 
and the Empire, and even those of the Hundred 
Days, were paid without examination. To the 
emigres a government which did not restore national 
property to its former owners was simply a continu- 
ation of the Revolution. The most discontented of 
all were perhaps Louis XVIII.'s companions in 
exile, the courtiers of jNIittau and Hartwell, who, hav- 
ing been present in time of trial thought they had a 
right to form part of the triumph. These could not 
console themselves- for the preferment of a Pasquier, 
a Mounier, a Portalis, a Simeon, a Decazes. The 
favors heaped by the King upon Napoleon's favorites 
seemed to them an insult to monarchy, a blow aimed 
at royalty by the King himself. They could hardly 
conceal their exasperation under an enforced polite- 
ness. When, on September 5, 1816, Louis XVIII. 
issued his celebrated decree dissolving the Chamber 
of Deputies, described as the undiscoverable cham- 
ber, the fury of the ultras knew no bounds. They 



94 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

were obliged to put an almost superhuman pressure 
on themselves to prevent its exploding in the palace 
itself. 

It was said that no one but Queen Hortense, his 
former friend, could have inspired M. Decazes with 
a measure so fatal to royalty. A story was told of 
one noble lady whose indignation was so great that 
she ordered her chambermaid to take the bust of 
Louis XVIII. from the salon to the garret, using the 
most slighting expressions concerning him as she did 
so. As soon as he learned that the famous decree 
which excited such anger had been signed, Chateau- 
briand added the following postscript to his just 
finished work, La Monarchie selon la Charte : " Good 
Frenchmen must not lose courage, but crowd to the 
elections ; only, let them beware of a trap very diffi- 
cult for us to avoid. People will talk to them of the 
King and his will. French hearts will be moved, 
tears will start; when they hear the King's name 
they will take off their hats and accept the ballot 
offered by a hostile hand, and deposit it in the urn. 
Suspect the snare ; save the King in any case ! " 

While the ultras maintained that Louis XVIII. , 
a prisoner in his own palace, was delivered up to the 
tyranny of his ministers, the sovereign considered 
himself perfectly free at the Tuileries, and derided 
the fury of the extreme monarchists. After the 
elections, Chateaubriand wrote in a rage: "Bona- 
parte made use of revolutionists while despising 
them; now, people want to use and honor them. 



THE TUILEBIES 95 



The royalists are in consternation at this. Could 
they have believed that apostles of legitimacy would 
be sought among such agents ? Could they possibly 
understand such an inversion of ideas ? The Jaco- 
bins have issued from their dens, uttering howls of 
joy that have been heard by their brethren throughout 
Europe ; they have presented themselves at the elec- 
tions full of surprise at having been called thither, 
and astonished to see themselves caressed as the real 
upholders of monarchy." 

The Duchess of Berry took good care not to mingle 
in these quarrels, and whenever she repaired to the 
Tuileries, bringing joy and gaiety with her, she 
avoided speaking of politics, not only with the King 
and the princes, but with the ministers and courtiers. 



XII 



THE ELYSEE 



THE residence of the Duke and Duchess of Berry 
was the Elysee. This pleasant palace, so 
well situated, elegant, and agreeable, was called 
the Elys de-Bourbon at the time, in memory of the 
Ducliess of Bourbon, who had owned it toward the 
close of the eighteenth century. It was suggestive 
of many reflections upon the vicissitudes of human 
affairs. Built by the Count of Evreux in 1718, 
inhabited several days by Madame de Pompadour, 
sold in 1773 to Beaujon the financier, bought by the 
Duchess of Bourbon in 1780, it became national 
property during the Revolution, and was let to some 
contractors for public fetes, who transformed it into 
ballrooms and gambling saloons, and called it the 
Elysde. Murat acquired possession of it in 1803, 
and relinquished it to Napoleon in 1808. It was 
then occupied by the Empress Josephine for some 
time after the divorce, and Napoleon spent part of 
the Hundred Days there. It was from there he 
started, at first for Waterloo, afterwards to Saint 
Helena. It was from there also that the Duke of 
Berry departed before falling under the poniard of 
96 



THE ELY SEE 97 



an assassin. Bnt no fatal presentiment clouded the 
Prince's mind in 181(3. All things wore a smiling 
aspect for him, and he enjoyed his happiness in 
peace. 

Born at Versailles, January 24, 1778, the Duke 
of Berry was thirty-eight years old at the time of his 
marriage. But his gait, his manners, and his tastes 
were those of a young man. Chateaubriand has 
drawn this portrait of him, like, though possibly a 
trifle Hattered : — 

" His head, like that of the chief of the Capets, 
was large, with tangled liair, a broad forehead, a 
ruddy face, staring blue eyes, and thick red lips. 
His neck was short, and his shoulders rather high, 
like those of all great military families. The breast 
wherein his heart beat without suspicion or fear 
afforded plenty of room for the poniard. Mgr. the 
Duke of Berry was of medium stature, like Louis 
XIV. He looked brave, and the expression of his 
face was candid and clever. His gait was active, 
his action prompt, his glance steady, intelligent, 
and kindly, and his smile charming. He expressed 
himself with elegance in ordinary conversation, with 
clearness when discussing public affairs, and with 
eloquence when moved by passion. One saw in him 
the prince, the soldier, the man who had suffered, 
and felt drawn toward him by the mingled bluntncss 
and good grace pervading his whole person." 

The Duke of Berry appreciated his happiness all 
the more because his youth had been so full of trials 



98 TRE DUCHESS OF BEEBT 

and difficulties. Exiled from France in 1789, at the 
age of eleven, he did not see his native land again 
until 1814. He was barely sixteen when he enlisted 
as a volunteer in Conde's army, and he won every 
advancement in rank at the SAvord's point. He was 
bent on being present in the least skirmish as well 
as in battles, and when reminded that he might be 
wounded, exclaimed: "So much the better; that 
will do honor to the family." He wrote to a woman; 
"War is about to begin. The princes will be in it. 
For the honor of the corps, it is to be hoped that 
some of us may be killed." Among his comrades 
in arms he gained a great reputation for frankness 
and loyalty, boldness and courage. He preferred 
camp life to any other. When he was not fighting 
he was travelling all over Europe, where he knew 
the principal languages. In 1800 he visited Naples 
and Rome, took up the study of painting and music, 
and learned to play several instruments. He sang 
well and drew fairly, especially military subjects ; he 
understood pictures thoroughly. He was a gentle- 
man, a soldier, and an artist. 

Great resemblances in character existed between 
the married pair; they had the same frankness, 
enthusiasm, and gaiety, the same love for the arts, 
and the same thirst for pleasm^e. The Duke became 
attached at once to his young companion. Neither 
pretty nor ugly, she had the charm and sprightliness 
of youth, fair curly hair, a keen glance, a fine expres- 
sion, a slender figure, and a graceful walk. Her 



THE ELY SEE 99 



nature was impulsive, her conversation amusing and 
sometimes girlish, her mind free from prejudices, 
her devotion pleasing and in nowise austere, her 
animation southern, and, so to say, sunbeaten. She 
never gave the slightest occasion for calumny or 
detraction throusfhout her married life. A faithful 
wife, she and her husband lived most happily 
together. Both the court and the city rendered her 
justice. All was innocent in her passion for pleas- 
ure. People liked and respected her. 

How well M. de Pontmartin has described this 
woman, Italian by birth, education, and instinct, 
who became a Frenchwoman at seventeen; "this 
flower of Ischia and Castellamare, transplanted to the 
shores of the Seine, under the gray sky of Paris, in 
that palace of the Tuileries which the revolutions 
had peopled with so many phantoms before convert- 
ing it also into a spectre "! How well the eminent 
critic sums up in a few words the role of the bride 
in that court dominated by the note of gravity, over- 
shadowed by clouds of sadness, where the ceremonial 
of the old regime reappeared, bristling with the con- 
straints of etiquette. "She represents the future, 
youth, joy, smiles, radiance and the dawn in the 
ro3^al family which welcomes her as daughter by 
adoption and the harbinger of its approaching des- 
tinies ; just as the Duchess of Angouleme personifies 
the past, majesty, sanctity, tradition, the immortal 
melancholy of a soul which seems to live on the steps 
of a throne, but which exists only by and through the 



100 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

souvenirs of the Temple and the visions of heaven. 
The contrast is striking. Charming women, eiegant 
patricians, group themselves around Marie Caroline 
who might, without flattery, be called a charmingly 
plain woman. Her blunt and good-natured husband 
lends himself all the more readily to her taste for 
pleasure because he shares it, and possibly grants 
much in order to be excused something. They dance 
and amuse themselves, they promenade, frequent the 
theatres, protect artists, visit studios, buy pictures, 
run the risks of the Opera ball, and the young Prin- 
cess is never happier than when she can remember 
that she is young, and forget that she is a princess." 
The little court of the Elys^e bore no resemblance 
to the solemn and severe court of the Tuileries. 
The heavy yoke of etiquette weighed but lightly on 
the new-married pair, who enjoyed the simplicity of 
an almost bourgeois existence. They often went out 
together on foot and unattended, through the gate 
opening on the Champs-Elys^ es, and going down the 
avenue mingled Avith the promenaders, who recog- 
nized and saluted them with respectful sympathy. 
People met them in the shops, where they did a good 
deal of buying, and paid very dear for all they bought. 
Their alms amounted to more than a hundred thou- 
sand crowns a year, and they often went in person 
to visit the poor whom they assisted. The military 
bluntness of the Duke combined great simplicity 
and real goodness, and was not unpleasing, espe- 
cially to people in humble circumstances, who always 



THE ELY SEE 101 



like to Lave princes on familiar terms with them. 
As to the Duchess, she was grace and attractiveness 
itself in her relations with persons of all social ranks 
whatever. The pair took part in all the agreeable 
incidents of Parisian life, in festivities and first rep- 
resentations ; they went to the minor theatres, they 
visited the studios of the principal artists, who recog- 
nized a connoisseur in the Duke at a glance. The 
Duchess painted, and the Duke spent hours in paint- 
ing beside her. This life so tranquil and well occu- 
pied by the arts and beneficence made them both 
popular. The young wife conciliated everybody. 
She pleased the King, Monsieur, and the austere 
Duchess of Angouleme. In a time of pamphlets 
and violent animosities she was respected by all par- 
ties without exception. She lived on good terms 
with the ultras and also with M. Decazes. Making 
no distinctions between the emigres and the quondam 
Bonapartists so far as her own amiability was con- 
cerned, she meddled with none of the court intrigues. 
The fury of the Faubourg Saint-Germain at the time 
of the dissolution of the " undiscoverable chamber" 
left her indifferent. Domestic happiness sufficed 
her for all things. This woman, destined to endure 
so many trials and to pass through so many vicissi- 
tudes and catastrophes, did not even suspect the 
snares of every kind which already surrounded her, 
and, satisfied with the present, she looked forward to 
the future with all the confident illusions of youth. 



XIII 



THE FIRST SORROW 



HAPPY as she was at the beginning of her mar- 
ried life, the Duchess of Berry soon behekl 
her joy troubled by a first sorrow, the forerunner of 
the deceptions and griefs fate held in store for her. 
In the Quotidienne we read : — 

" To-day is the 17th of June, the anniversary of 
the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Berry. 
We recall the joy testified by all France to the King 
and the royal family on that occasion. Since Heaven 
has blessed the union by deigning to promise a new 
scion from this august stem, the satisfaction of 
France is greater still, and it awaits with confidence 
the happy moment which shall crown it. Gentle, 
good, lively, and truly French, the young Princess 
wins the respect, affection, and gratitude of all who 
have the honor to approach her. The attachment 
felt for her by her illustrious spouse, the sentiments 
entertained by the King, so good a judge of merit, 
the paternal love whose proofs are lavished on her by 
Monsieur, the applause which greets her wherever 
she appears, all prove how worthy she is to be cher- 
ished ; and if she were not so modest she would be 
102 



THE FIB ST SOBROW 103 

proud of her success. jNIay the pious and faithful 
subjects of the King obtain from Providence a new 
successor to the throne of the Bourbons, — those 
Bourbons who in all times have been distinguished 
by their affability, goodness, and beneficence." 

Royalist France was in expectation. The Moni- 
teur of July 11, 1817, said: — 

'' Every arrangement has been made for informing 
the King so that His Majesty may at once repair to 
the Elysee-Bourbon, as well as Their Royal High- 
nesses and others whose rank or duty may invite 
their presence. The happy event so impatiently 
awaited will be announced by a salvo of artillery. 
Twenty-four guns will be fired if a prince is born, 
and twelve if it be a princess." 

Madame de Remusat had written to her husband 
on July 7 : " The Duchess of Berry is near her time, 
and we are all expecting the birth from one minute 
to another. It would be good if it came to-morrow, 
for the anniversary of the second entry of the King. 
They have had the politeness to exhibit Gerard's fine 
and much-expected picture, la Rentree d' Henri IV. 
da7is Paris^ for that day. The allusion is in good 
taste." Again, on July 10: "Here all ears are 
cocked to hear the cannon which are to announce the 
delivery of Madame the Duchess of Berry. She has 
been suffering a little for two days, and we are ex- 
pecting the little prince. The King's carriage is 
hai-nessed up night and day, and the court and the 
ministers have been warned to be in readiness ; for it 



104 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 

seems tliey desire that the delivery should take place 
in presence of a numerous assemblage. Madame de 
Montsoreau has been appointed governess. The 
King looked very Avell indeed last Wednesday. It 
was splendid weather. All Paris was out on the 
boulevard, crying, 'Long live the King! ' I remarked 
that nobody cheered on the terrace of the H6tel de 
Gontaut, where we had so many great ladies. The 
King did not seem at all affected by it." 

On Sunday, July 13, 1817, at twenty-five minutes 
past eleven in the morning, at the Elysee-Bourbon 
palace, the Duchess of Berry brought a daughter into 
the world, whose certificate of birth designated her 
as the "very high and powerful Princess Louise 
Isabelle of Artois, Mademoiselle, granddaughter of 
France." Those present at her birth were the King, 
Monsieur, the Duchess of Angouleme, the Duke of 
Angouleme, the Duke of Berry, Mademoiselle of 
Orleans, the Duke of Orleans, the Duchess of Bour- 
bon, the dowager Duchess of Orleans, the Prince of 
Cond^, the Duke of Uzes, the Duke of Richelieu, 
the Count of Pradel, the Marquis of Brez^, the Duke 
of Luynes, Chancellor Dambray, and the Count of 
S^monville. In the evening the theatres, in token 
of joy, gave pieces composed for the occasion, full 
of enthusiasm and monarchical protestations. 

Madame de Remusat wrote to her husband the 
next day : " I must stop everything else to tell 3' ou 
that Madame the Duchess of Berry was brought to 
bed yesterday morning with a daughter. The whole 



THE FIBST SOBBOW 105 

royal family were not only present at the delivery, 
but remained in tlie chamber itself, and the chan- 
cellor, the ministers, and high personages of the 
court were very near at hand. When it was over, 
the King went into the salon where his ministers 
were, and said to them : ' Gentlemen, they (elles) are 
both doing well. ' Twelve guns were fired. 

"Everybody began to count; then they said: 'It is 
a daughter, ' and picked up the thread of their dis- 
course. The little Princess will be called Made- 
moiselle ; she was held at the baptismal font by the 
King and his aunt,. the Duchess of Orleans. Last 
night the houses were illuminated." 

Unfortunately, the very high and powerful Prin- 
cess, as she was called in the birth certificate, 
died almost immediately. The Moniteu}- of July 16 

said: — 

" Paris, July 15. 

" The happy deliverance of Madame the Duchess 
of Berry gladdened all hearts ; every one shared in 
the joy of the royal family. Imagination, looking 
into the future, took pleasure in embellishing the 
life of the august infant whom Heaven had given to 
France ; some day she would have all the graces and 
virtues of her mother. This earli^est pledge of 
fecundity opened our hearts to newer hopes; nor 
are these hopes torn from us ; we do not doubt their 
realization. But was it necessary that sorrow and 
mourning should so soon replace delight? Made- 
moiselle is no more. . . . She lived only two days. 



106 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

Last evening we were apprised of the loss we had 
just suffered. The Princess died between eight and 
nine o'clock. The royal family are plunged in 
sadness. We have shared their joy; we weep with 
them. Nothing can equal the grief of Mgr. the 
Duke of Berry. If anything can lessen the pain 
caused by this cruel event, it is the certainty that 
the health of the Duchess of Berry occasions not the 
least uneasiness." 

Madame de R^musat wrote, July 15 : " Here is a 
misfortune, my friend; the poor little Princess died 
yesterday morning ; she was choked by something, I 
don't know what, and in a convulsion. They say 
the King is greatly afflicted, and he has reason to 
be; for although this loss may be easily repaired, yet 
it will have a bad popular effect which one would be 
glad to get over. ... I don't like, either, this rain 
which begins with the moon and falls on the cut rye. 
I am rather blue this morning." 

At nine o'clock, July 16, the King went to the 
Elysee and spent an hour with the Duke of Berry. 

"The sorrow of the Prince," said the Moniteur, 
" was somewhat lessened by the monarch's paternal 
consolations; they solaced their hearts by blending 
their tears. Let them not ignore the public afflic- 
tion. It is the guarantee of the love and gratitude 
we bear the royal family. May these sentiments 
contribute to calm the sorrow of the august spouses, 
and may a prospering Heaven cause long years of 
happiness to succeed these days of sadness ! " 



THE FIRST SOBBOW 107 

Madame de R^musat wrote the same day to her 
husband, then prefect of Lille : — 

" Paris, Wednesday Evening, July 16, 1817. 

"The King has put a good face on the death of 
the Princess. Monsieur is profoundly afflicted, and 
the Duke of Berry is perfect to his young wife, who 
weeps bitterly. The Duke of Orleans has offered 
condolences to Monsieur, who answered him in an 
obliging tone: 'If we needed princes, we should 
know where to find them. ' Popular gossip was un- 
pleasant and was kept up for eight hours ; afterwards, 
nobody thought anything more about it. Rumor says 
Madame the Duchess of Berry can have no more 
children; I hope she will soon give the lie to that; 
the Orleans are talked about a little more. All 
this will quiet down. The rye is coming up again; 
they say it is doing well and that it fell too quickly. 
It would have been bad if the rain had lasted; but 
the Aveather is fine to-day and the barometers are 
rising." 

At the same moment the mortal remains of the 
little Princess were being transported to Saint Denis. 
She had been put in a coffin covered with white satin, 
on which was a red plaque bearing this inscription : 
" Here is the body of the very high and very power- 
ful Princess Louise Isabelle of Artois, Mademoiselle, 
granddaughter of France, daughter of the very high 
and very powerful Prince Charles Ferdinand of 
Artois, Duke of Berry, and of the very high and 



108 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 

very powerful Princess Caroline Ferdinande Louise, 
Princess of the Two Sicilies, died at Paris, in the 
Elys^e-Bourbon palace, July 14, 1817, aged one day." 

The coffin was exposed during the day, July 16, 
in a hall of the Elysee, on a platform decorated with 
white draperies studded with escutcheons. At nine 
in the evening it was placed in the carriage destined 
to transport it to Saint Denis. It was accompanied 
by the Count of Rochemore, master of ceremonies, 
the chief officers of the household, and all persons in 
the service of the Prince and Princess. The bells 
tolled when the convoy reached the abbey, the necrop- 
olis of the Kings of France. The royal guard 
formed a line on the right, and the National Guard 
of Saint Denis on the left. The Marquis of Dreux- 
Br^z^, grand master of ceremonies, came to receive 
the body at the principal door of the church. The 
Duchess of L^vis and the Viscountess de Gontaut 
carried the corners of the pall. The entire interior 
of the nave and choir was hung with white draperies, 
sprinkled with lilies and the royal arms. The Abbe 
Bombelles, first almoner to the Duchess of Berry, 
said to the dean and canons of Saint Denis : " Gen- 
tlemen, on presenting, by the King's express com- 
mand, S. A. R. Mademoiselle, in order to conduct 
her beneath these sacred arches to the last abode 
of the kings her ancestors, we will say with the 
Preacher : — 

"She appeared like the bow which shines in a 
luminous sky, and like the rose that buds in spring- 



THE FIRST SOBJROW 109 

time. But a few days have elapsed since this rose 
was born in the midst of all that is greatest on earth; 
by her beauty and freshness she promised all that 
could assure her preservation. Alas! in less than 
twelve hours she passed from the most perfect life 
into sufferings which hastened her death. Such an 
unexpected end rends the authors of her being with 
grief and overwhelms us with sadness. We share 
also the consolations imparted to a cherished race by 
the religion that penetrates them. Mademoiselle, 
regenerated in the waters of baptism, and never 
soiled by any imperfection, is henceforward the 
angel of the country, an angel who, reunited in 
heaven to the saints of her family, will draw upon 
them and us the blessings of the Lord." 

The Duchess (then Viscountess) of Gontaut has 
written in her Memoirs : '' I was appointed to accom- 
pany the convoy of the little Princess. It took 
place at midnight, escorted by body-guards carrying 
torches. The church was solitary and the royal 
vault open. This young scion of the royal race was 
laid at the foot of Louis XVI. 's tomb. A profound- 
night, a pious silence interrupted only by the sound 
of footsteps and of weapons, saddened the heart. At 
her waking, Madame the Duchess of Angouleme 
summoned me, wishing to know the details of this 
sorrowful night. I said I had prayed near the coffin 
which contained the precious remains of the Martyr 
King; she took my hand, pressed it to her heart, and 
wept; I was profoundly affected." 



110 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

In his powerful and judicious Histoire de la Res- 
tauration, Baron de Viel-Castel says concerning ^lie 
death we have just narrated: — 

" The royal infant, Mademoiselle, as she Avas called, 
had solemn obsequies at Saint Denis, and a court 
abbe pronounced even on this occasion a sort of 
funeral oration, in which, not being able to bestow 
other praises, he vaunted her beauty and freshness. 
The Mo7iiteur deplored in emphatic terms a grief 
which could not have been felt very keenly by any 
but the Duchess of Berry. Even a poet Avas found 
to celebrate her death as if it had been a public 
calamity. These dull flatteries are part of the little- 
nesses inherent in all courts." 

For once our sentiment is not wholly in accord 
with that of the eminent historian. Whether the 
mother be a princess or a woman of the people, the 
loss of a new-born child is a grief, a disappointment, 
a despair fitted to inspire profound compassion. 
France was in the right when it grcAV tender over 
the first sorrow of the amiable Duchess of Berry. 
The griefs of princesses are symbolic of those of 
other women. How mau}^ poor mothers, when they 
read the Moniteur, said to themselves : " And I too 
have suffered thus." 



XIV 

1818 

THE Duchess of Beny possessed great elasticity 
of character and a fund of southern gaiety 
which quickly sprang up again, even after the most 
painful trials. Her gracious and amiable nature 
was not made for sad reflections and sombre medi- 
tations. Storms affected her keenly, but the rain- 
bow soon came to brighten her heart and mind. 
August 6, 1817, for the first time after childbed, she 
walked out in the Elysee gardens, leaning on her 
husband's arm. On the 26th of the same month, 
a performance given at the Opera in aid of the pen- 
sion fund was honored by her presence. The 31st, 
she went to Suresnes in a carriage drawn by eight 
horses, where the clergy formally received her, and 
where she crowned the ro sieve ^ in the village church. 
October 7 she visited the Sevres manufactory, the 
11th the Savonnerie carpet manufactory, the Gobelin 
manufactory on the 31st, and the Mint on Novem- 
ber 11. 

At the beginning of 1818 the young Princess, 
then more than ever esteemed by the court and the 

1 A young girl who has obtained a prize for virtuous conduct. 

Ill 



112 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

city, seemed happy and consoled. Her extreme 
kindliness made friends for her in all quarters. Her 
conversation, always agreeable and never affected, 
had charm and animation. Both in face and charac- 
ter, in ideas and impressions, she was very young. 
People found her simple, affable, and natural, and 
they liked to see her enjoy life and pleasure, and, in 
a word, full of the spirit natural to her youth. All 
those who formed part of her circle were sincerely 
devoted to her. One of her ladies-in-waiting, the 
Viscountess of Gontaut, became her lady of the bed- 
chamber toward the middle of 1818. The position, 
which had at first been filled by the Countess of La 
Ferronnays, had been vacant for a year. The Duke 
of Berry wrote to Madame de Gontaut, whose daugh- 
ter had married the Count of Bourbon-Busset: — 

"I am delighted that Charlotte has become my 
cousin." (There was a very distant but perfectly 
authentic tie of kinship between the Bourbon- 
Bussets and the royal family.) "As to you, dear 
and excellent friend, you shall not be left alone. 
Come and live with us; we offer you the position 
of lady of the bedchamber. You will have your 
apartments in the Elysee. My wife is impatiently 
awaiting your reply. Come and give it to us 
yourself." 

The Viscountess of Gontaut hastened at once to 
the Duke and Duchess. "I was filled with tender 
emotions," she says in her unpublished Memoirs. 
"They noticed this and were pleased by it. How 



ISIS 113 

is it possible not to love and devote one's self 
to princes who are worthy? They took delight in 
showing me the apartment intended for me, over 
that of the Duchess. The view across the Champs- 
Elysees was superb and gay. Tlie rooms had been 
occupied by the King of Rome, and were full of 
traces of the care bestowed on his infancy: the 
panels were padded as high as the head of a child 
six or seven years old, and the entire apartment was 
hung with green silk, still beautiful and fresh, so 
as to preserve his eyes. The study of this human 
foresight, brought to nothing by the Supreme Will, 
made us thoughtful, and for an instant saddened 
even our Princess." 

But the sunny Italian nature of the Duchess of 
Berry soon chased away all gloomy presentiments. 

"Come," said she to her lady of the bedchamber, 
" let us think gayly of the future ; I am happy, and 
I want to enjoy my happiness. Your quarters are 
spacious and charming ; you have three salons ; you 
can give balls which will be a hundred times more 
amusing than ours, for you have no such obligations 
as we have. Come, it is a promise, isn't it? You 
will give some balls ? " 

The Viscountess was about to reply, when the 
Duke of Berry remarked sadly: — 

"Caroline, you think of nothing but amusing- 
yourself." 

"And why not?" returned the Princess. "I am 
so young." 



114 THE DUCHESS OF BEREY 

Then, stamping, but smiling all the while, she 
closed the Duke's mouth with her pretty hand. 

"Above all," added she, "don't talk to me any 
more about being a widow; it is the current jest, 
but I find it insupportable." 

The Duke smiled in a melancholy way. 

"I was wrong," said he, "but it is a fixed idea of 
mine ; for some time past I have been thinking of 
your widowhood." 

" A singular pleasantry ! " returned the Princess, 
and taking her lady of the bedchamber by the arm 
she drew her out of the apartment. 

Some time afterwards, the Duke, being alone in 
his study, had Madame de Gontaut summoned 
thither. "Look here," said he, "I am sure that this 
paper is poisoned. Don't touch it; when I opened 
it, I experienced a horrible sensation. The letter 
amounts to nothing and can give no clue; it is an 
appeal for aid, unsigned and not addressed." The 
Viscountess begged him to warn the police. He 
charged her to keep the thing secret, fearing to cause 
his wife anxiety. One might say he had a premoni- 
tion of Louvel, who had been meditating and prepar- 
ing his crime for more than four 3^ears. 

Sadness passed quickl}^ and enjoyment returned. 
The Duchess had had the good fortune to keep near 
her the friend of her childhood, Suzette de La Tour, 
the daughter of her former governess and the Count 
of La Tour, lieutenant-general and aide-de-camp of 
the King of Naples. This charming young girl of 



1818 115 

seventeen married the Count of Meffray in the Elysee 
chapel, and was soon afterwards appointed Lady-in- 
waiting to the Duchess of Berry. 

"Consider her, young women," said Madame de 
Gontaut of the Countess of Meffray; "amiable, 
witty, and pretty, surrounded and admired, yet 
slander cannot touch her." 

Durino: the summer the Duke and Duchess often 
dined tete-d-tete in the Elysee garden. Sometimes, 
when they knew that Madame de Gontaut Avas alone, 
they invited her. "Nothing could be more agree- 
able, pleasanter, and I may even say more friendly," 
she adds, "than these dinners d trois.^^ 

At the end of July, the Duchess of Berry went to 
Rambouillet with the royal family. We read in the 
3Ioniteur : — 

" The little town of Rambouillet cannot contain all 
the curious persons who come from Paris and the 
neighboring communes ; all the inns are full, and 
numbers who could obtain no lodgings have been 
obliged to sleep in their carriages. All the houses 
without exception are hung with white flags embroid- 
ered Avith lilies. The inscriptions are pretty much 
all alike : 'Long live the King! Long live the Bour- 
bons! God and the King! May the King live a 
long time, and the Bourbons forever! ' " 

August 25, the statue of Henri IV. was solemnly 
inaumirated on the Pont Neuf. The Duchesses of 

o 

Angouleme and Berry sat in the open carriage with 
the King. He reached the platform erected before 



116 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

liis ancestor's statue at a quarter-past two. The 
Marquis Barbe cle Marbois made an address, to wliieh 
the King replied in these words : — • 

"I am affected by the sentiments you express. I 
accept with lively gratitude the gift of the French 
people, this monument erected by the offerings of 
the rich and the mite of widows. "When they behold 
this image, Frenchmen will say: 'He loved us, and 
his children love us also. ' And the descendants of 
the good King will say in their turn, 'Let us merit 
to be loved as he was.' We shall see in this the 
pledge of reunion between all parties, and the obliv- 
ion of all mistakes. We shall see the presage of 
the happiness of France. May Heaven grant these 
desires which are dearest of all to my heart." The 
thirteen legions of the National Guard marched past 
the statue. Popular representations were given dur- 
ing the day, and in the evening plays composed for 
the occasion. 

The Moniteur had printed the following that 
morning : — 

"It is on the feast of Saint Louis, the day on 
Avhich the statue of Henri IV. is to be inaugurated, 
that it is sweet to be permitted to announce that the 
condition of S. A. R. the Duchess of Berry promises 
a new scion of the august Bourbon dynasty." 

Like its predecessor, this hope Avas to end in a dis- 
appointment. The Mojiiteur thus announced the sad 
tidings : — 

"S. A. R. the Duchess of Berry, had an accident 



7S1S 117 

which made it necessary to bleed her in the arm and 
employ other remedies. Nevertheless, an untimely 
birth occurred this morning, September 13, at six 
o'clock. The child, which was of the male sex, 
lived nearly two hours. S. A. R. the Duchess of 
Berr}^ is in a satisfactory condition." 

This date, the 13th, rea])peared at the interval of 
a year. On July 13, 1817, the Duchess had brought 
a daughter into the world who lived but a day. On 
September 13, 1818, she was brought to bed with a 
son who died at the end of tAvo hours. The same 
date was to appear again two years and five months 
later. The Duke of Berry was assassinated by 
Louvel, February 13, 1820, and in the midst of his 
cruel agony the victim remarked the triple coinci- 
dence. 

In spite of the Duchess's sufferings, she had the 
presence of mind to request the prelate to baptize 
at once the child who was about to die; "a veri- 
table consolation for Her Royal Highness," said the 
Mo7iiteur, "and. the reward o:f the pious sentiments 
by which she is animated." The obsequies of the 
little Prince took place the same evening at half- 
past ten o'clock. The Bishop of Amiens and the 
Marquis of Anjorand, chief equerry to the Duke of 
Berry, got into a carriage di-awn by six horses. The 
escort was composed of an officer, a brigadier, and 
four of Monsieur's guards. The body was received 
at Saint Denis b}^ the canon in charge of the tombs, 
and deposited in the royal vault, beside that of the 



118 THE DUCHESS OF BEEBY 

little Princess wlio died the year before. The 
Prince had been baptized, but given no name. Tltis 
inscription was engraved on the coffin : " Here is the 
body of the very high and powerful Prince N. of 
Artois, grandson of France, son of the very high and 
very powerful Prince Charles Ferdinand of Artois, 
Duke of Berry, son of France, and of Caroline Ferdi- 
nande Louise, Princess of the Two Sicilies, who died 
at birth, September 13, 1818." It must be owned 
that this official phraseology is somewhat stilted. 
To describe a child who dies at birth as " very high 
and powerful " smacks of exaggeration. 

The Duke of Berry was greatly afflicted. Possi- 
bly he had a presentiment that the death of this child 
would be the signal for his own. M. Alfred Nette- 
ment relates that a few days afterward the Duke of 
Berry went to the Palais Royal to call on the Duke 
of Orleans. The latter was in his study with the 
young Duke of Chartres. He made a movement as 
if to send away his son, fearing, doubtless, lest the 
sight of his own family prosperity might redouble 
his cousin's regrets, and that his blooming health 
might recall the empty cradle in which the elder 
branch had placed a hope which lasted only two 
hours. "But," adds M. Nettement, "the Duke of 
Berry gently detained the young Prince. He was a 
favorite with him and his wife, and was always wel- 
come at the Elysee. Then, drawing him closer still, 
the Duke said, with an affectionate, though melan- 
choly smile: 'Here is a fine fellow who possibly has 



2SIS 119 

a high fortune before him. My wife cannot give me 
any more chiklren, or at any rate, nothing but 
daughters, and then the crown will pass to jouv 
son.' To this the Duke of Orleans replied: 'At 
least, ]Monseigneur, if some day he should obtain the 
crown, it will be you who will give it to him as a 
second father; for you are younger than I, and my 
son would receive all from your kindness.' " 

The Journal des Dehats published an article repro- 
duced by the Moniteur of September 23, 1818, in 
which it was said : — 

" No city has felt the shock of the events that have 
plunged France into mourning more than the faith- 
ful city of Bordeaux; none could welcome with more 
cordiality the new hopes offered us ; the young Prince 
torn prematurely from our love was to have been 
called by its name. This signal honor was due, and 
had been granted by the King to the city which was 
the first of all to open its gates to the grandson of 
Henri IV., and which, at a disastrous epoch, was 
again the last asylum of that Princess whom France 
and Europe have styled the heroine of Bordeaux. 
The first scion of this august stem would have been 
a Duke of Bordeaux. Everything gives us the right 
to believe that this noble recompense of courage and 
fidelity is only delayed for several months, and that 
the moment is not far distant when Providence Avill 
consolidate, by another pledge, the glory of the faith- 
ful cit}^ and the destinies of France." 

The Duchess of Berry was not more discouraged 



120 TBE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

by her second mourning than by her first. Almost 
immediately she resumed her habitual gaiety. Oil 
November 4, early morning serenades and military 
music announced, both at the Tuileries and the 
Elysee, the feast of Saint Charles Borromeo, the 
patron saint of both the Duke and the Duchess. A 
ball was given at the Elysee palace to celebrate this 
double fete, on November 7. It was opened by the 
young Princess, who danced with the Grand-duke 
Constantine of Russia, in a French quadrille. 
Dancing began anew after supper and was kept up 
until morning. The year 1818 finished prosperously 
and gaily. 



XV. 

1819 

PROBABLY the Duchess of Berry, in all her 
changeful life, had no such calm and happy 
year as 1819. It was like a gleam of sunlight 
through an overclouded sky. The kindly young 
wife enjoyed her domestic happiness in peace, and 
lived only for her husband, the arts, and charity. 
At Palermo she had reproached herself for not hav- 
ing sufficiently cultivated the accomplishments. At 
the Elysde she took lessons. As the Duke of Berry 
loved music, she wished to become a good musician ; 
he had fine galleries of pictures, and she wished to 
be able to appreciate them. She formed a choice and 
elegant society around her, in which the traditions of 
the old regime were united to a familiarity thoroughly 
modern. Small parties, private balls, and exquisite 
concerts animated the joyous winter. In the Moni- 
teur of February 10, 1819, we read: — 

"S. A. R. Madame the Duchess of Berry has 
just acquired possession of the fine picture of the 
Sybil, one of Madame Lebrun's masterpieces, which 
she has presented to Mgr. the Duke of Berry. One 
must be pleased to see this young Princess, in whom 

121 



122 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

love for the fine arts is innate, seizing eagerly every 
occasion to encourage French artists, from whom she' 
has already collected several interesting works, and 
seeking in the protection she grants them another 
means of increasing her affection for the things 
which interest her august spouse." 

It is not without emotion that Madame de Gontaut 
has related her memories of this agreeable year 1819. 
She says that when spring came, the Duke and 
Duchess spent a part of their mornings in the gar- 
den. " They set up games there which amused them 
much; the wives, children, and husbands of the- 
]Drincely houses came there incessantly, especially on 
Sundays. Nothing could be gayer or more agreeable 
than Monseigneur's behavior to those around him ; 
people amused themselves and were in harmony; 
they were happy and at ease." 

The Duchess was then pregnant. She hoped 
greatly that this time the trouble of the two preced- 
ing years might not be renewed. She was forbidden 
to go out in a carriage. When she dined at the 
Tuileries with the King, she went on foot, leaning 
on her husband's arm. The Moniteur said in its 
issue of June 17, 1819: — 

" The Duchess of Berry, whose condition, on which 
hang the hopes of France, obliges her to take great 
precautions, will be unable to accompany her august 
spouse in the Corpus Christi procession. Wishing, 
nevertheless, to contribute by her liberality to the 
magnificence of a ceremony to which her presence 



IS19 123 

would have added so much brilliancy, this pious 
Princess has presented to her parish church, the 
Assumption, a superb canopy and an extremely rich 
ornament." 

A short time before her delivery the Duchess was 
walking with her husband in the Elysde garden. 
She drew Madame de Gontaut into a thicket, and 
made the Duke tell her that she had been chosen as 
governess for the expected infant. The lady of the 
bedchamber thus relates the incident : — 

"I was dumfounded; the first thing that pre- 
sented itself to my mind was a long train of princes 
and princesses to bring up and superintend — the 
slaverer, in a word, of all the rest of my life. The 
silence that ensued while my reply was delayed, 
amused and made them laugh; but reading in my 
eyes that I was sad, they kindly asked the reason. 
I said : ' I shall miss the happiness I enjoy with you 
now, free from trouble and vexation. I understand 
myself; I know I could never take lightly nor at my 
ease the charge you offer me; but I also know that 
it gives me still another means of proving my attach- 
ment to you. I will fulfil it as I did that wdiich 
nature assigned me with regard to my own children. ' 
Monseigneur, who was far from expecting me to be 
uncertain whether to accept a place much above that 
I then occupied, seemed disappointed; they both 
said the kindest and most encouraging things to me. 
I asked a few days' delay in which to consult my 
husband." 



124 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

Not long afterwards Louis XVIII. gave the Vis- 
countess an audience: "Sit down, god-daugliter, " lie 
said to her, " and let us have a chat. Tell me, I beg 
you, why do you hesitate to accept the first place in 
the kingdom?" The King listened with his eyes, 
which, penetrating even to the conscience, obliged a 
truthful answer. " I have no ambition. Sire," replied 
the Viscountess ; " I prefer liberty and independence 
to everything else." "Liberty!" exclaimed the 
King; "liberty and independence, senseless words! 
Devotion comes from the heart; yours has given 
proof of it and will never belie it. Believe me, and 
accept what is offered you with confidence, friend- 
ship, and my approbation." Louis XVIII. 's wish 
was a command. Madame de Gontaut obeyed. 

It had been decided that if the child borne by the 
Duchess of Berry were a son, he should be called the 
Duke of Bordeaux. Hence the faithful city, as 
it was then called, attached special interest to the 
expected event. The Moniteur published a letter 
from Bordeaux, dated September 8, in which it was 
said: — 

"We are expecting from one minute to another 
the news of the happy deliverance of Madame the 
Duchess of Berry. It seems that measures have 
been taken and orders given so that the result shall 
be made known directly after the arrival of the cou- 
rier. If the news comes in the daytime, it will be 
announced by salvos of artillery; if at night, by 
the great bell of the HOtel de Ville. Fifteen volleys 



1819 125 

will apprise the Bordelais of the birth of a prince; 
three volleys will ajmounce the birth of a princess. 
The public edifices will be illuminated, and truly- 
national fetes will celebrate this memorable event." 

On September 21, 1819, the Duchess of Berry 
brought into the world without accident, not the 
son so impatiently expected, but a daughter. See- 
ing evidence of disappointment on the faces of those 
surrounding her, the courageous Princess, instead of 
looking cast down, began to smile gaily: "After 
the girl, the boy," she exclaimed. Full of joy, she 
did not foresee the dismal future. She would have 
been greatly surprised had any one told her that the 
princess just born was to be, like herself, the wife 
of an assassinated prince, and like her also, the 
jnother of a prince outlawed and deprived of his 
mheritance. 

Here is a summary of the birth certificate of the 
future Duchess of Parma : — 

"Certificate of birth of the very high and very 
powerful Princess Louise Marie Therese of Artois, 
Mademoiselle, granddaughter of France, born Sep- 
tember 21, 1819, at thirty-five minutes past six in 
the morning, at the Elysee-Bourbon palace, signed 
by the King, Monsieur, the Duchess of Angouleme, 
the Duke of Angouleme, the Duke of Berry, the 
Duke and Duchess of Orleans, the dowager Duchess 
of Orleans, the Duke and Duchess of Bourbon, Made- 
moiselle d' Orleans, the Duke of Duras, the Duke of 
Reggio, General Marquis DessoUe, president of the 



126 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

Ministerial Council; the Count of Pradel, director- 
general of the King's household, the Marquis of 
Dreux-Breze, grand master of ceremonies; M. de 
Serre, Minister of Justice ; Count Decazes, Minister 
of the Interior; Baron Portal, Minister of Marine; 
Baron Louis, Minister of Finances ; Louis Dambray, 
Chancellor of France; the Marquis of Semonville, 
grand referendary of the Chamber of Peers; M. 
Cauchy, keeper of the archives of the Chamber of 
Peers. Signed also, with the King's j)ermission, the 
Duke of Gramont, the Marquis of Boisgelin, the 
Duke of Escars, the Duke of S^rent, the Marquis of 
Champenest, the Marquis of Rochemore, the Count of 
Puys^gur, the Count of Talleyrand, f J--B., Bishop 
of Chartres, the Duke of Fitzjames, the Duke of 
Polignac, the Viscount of Agoult, the Duke of 
Damas, the Duke of Guiche, the Count of Nan- 
touillet." 

The Duke of Berry, always kind and affectionate 
toward his wife, wished to be the first to give her 
the new-born child. He did it with sincere feeling ; 
no one could suspect from his expression that he was 
disappointed at having a daughter instead of a son. 
Afterwards, the grand master of ceremonies caused 
both leaves of the folding door to be thrown open, 
and the body-guards formed in double line up to the 
apartment of the little Princess. The Viscountess 
of Gontaut, governess of the children of France, 
carried her thither in great pomp. After the grand 
master had made a profound salute, the body-guards 



1819 127 

retired. "I hoped by this time," she says, "to have 
done with etiquette, when that of the chambermaids' 
began. I was sitting doAvn, hugging my precious 
treasure in my arms, when the cradle-maid came for- 
ward to inform me, as she said, of the nature of her 
customary rights, which were to hokl and to carry 
the chiki, the governess having merely to give orders 
and preside. Monseigneur came up just then, and 
smiling, asked me in English if he had quite under- 
stood the instructions which the servinij-woman 
claimed to give me. We jested about it; he advised 
me to establish myself as mistress forthwith, so as to 
be able to enjoy with him and the Duchess a domes- 
tic happiness that might possibly be bourgeois^ but 
was the only real one. So I told the elegant and 
pretentious maid that I would call her when I 
thought her services were needed. This being said 
in Monseigneur's presence, and evidently by his 
advice, produced an effect whose benefits I felt until 
the education of the Princess was ended. 

The next day the Duke of Berry went to the 
Opera, where the public gave him an enthusiastic 
reception, and where Deri vis sang a cantata com- 
posed for the occasion by the celebrated ballad- writer, 
Desaugiers. 

On the occasion of her daughter's birth, the Duch- 
ess of Berry received many marks of sympathy and 
interest from her aunt, the Duchess of Orleans. 
The Duchess was the sister of Queen Marie Antoi- 
nette, and daughter of Queen Marie Caroline, grand- 



128 THE DUCHESS OF BEERY 

mother of the Duchess of Berry. The niece was 
very devoted to her aunt, and found it pleasant' to 
renew in France her souvenirs of the Two Sicilies. 
On her arrival in France she had not met her aunt 
there ; for, after the second Restoration she was rele- 
gated to a sort of exile in England with her hus- 
band and children. This disgrace lasted until April, 
1817. The Duke of Orleans was then aut^ ^rized by 
Louis XVIII. to return to France with his family, 
and he took up his residence again in the Palais 
Royal. The Duke of Berry had always entertained 
the friendliest sentiments toward his cousin, and 
energetically defended him i\gainst the rancor and 
suspicions of the emigres. In London, one evening 
during the emigration, it had been necessary, in 
order to avoid disagreeable scenes, for the Duke cf 
Berry to take the arm of his cousin of Orleans, and 
say in a severe tone to those surrounding them : — 

" Is any one here more difficult to •please than the 
Duke of Berry?" 

After 1817, the relations between the Palais Royal 
and the Elys^e became intimate and frequent. The 
Duchess of Orleans loved to tell how, in 1819, at the 
time of Mademoiselle's birth, the Duke of Chartres, 
hearing the first discharges of cannon, said: "Either 
my wife or my King has come into the world." 
After her recovery, the Duchess of Berry, a§ soon 
as she was permitted to go out, went to the Palais 
Royal with her husband to thank the Duchess 
of Orleans for her attentions. Mademoiselle was 



1S19 129 

taken along. She was on the Lap of the governess of 
the chikben of France when the Duke of Berry, 
recalling the reflection of the young Duke of Char- 
tres, said to him: "Chartres, come here then, and 
embrace your wife." The young Prince reddened, 
but did not stir: his timidity was found amusing. 

By degrees the Duchess of Berry resumed her 
occupations, the El3^see its amusements, the Duke 
of Berry his hunting, and everybody was happy. 
One ma}^ read in the Moniteur of October 29, 1819: — 

"Since last Sunday, when S. A. R. the Duchess 
of Berry was churched, that Princess has dined at 
the Tuileries every day. Her Royal Highness, with 
the young Princess Mademoiselle d'Artois, her 
daughter, accompanied by her nurse, has gone out 
to Bagatelle for the last tln-ee days, from one o'clock 
to four." 

The Duke of Berry was a very tender father. He 
often passed part of the morning in his daughter's 
room, and the Duchess frequently went to meet him 
there. She had appointed as cradle-woman the nurse 
who had attended her at the birth of her three chil- 
dren, Madame Lemoine. She was the daughter of 
the person who nursed the Empress Marie Louise 
when the King of Rome was born. 

The Duchess of Berry seemed the happiest of 
women. Whenever she appeared, the public showed 
her a lively sympathy. The Moniteur of November 
4, 1819, said: — 

"About four o'clock on All Saints Day, the Duke 



130 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

and Duchess of Berry made their appearance at the 
Salon. The crowd was still rather large and pressed 
about them, restrained less by the guardians of the 
museum, who preceded them, than by fear of incom- 
moding the Princess, who, leaning on her husband's 
arm and following the balustrade, stopped l^efore 
many of the charming genre pictures which line 
the Salon. On the same day Their Royal High- 
nesses were to visit the studio of M. Girodet to 
look at the picture of Pygmalion and Galatea." 

While the Duke and Duchess of Berry, taking no 
part either in court intrigues or politics were thus 
leading a peaceful and happy life in the Elysde, the 
horizon was beginning to cloud over. November 
23, 1819, Louis XVIII., in opening the session of 
the Chambers, said in his speech from the throne : — 

"A vague but real anxiety pervades all minds; 
every one asks the present for pledges of its dura- 
tion. As yet the nation enjoys very imperfectly the 
first fruits of peace and legalized government; it 
fears to see them torn away by the violence of fac- 
tions ; it is alarmed by their thirst for domination ; 
it fears the too clear expression of their designs." 

Count Gr^goire, a regicide, had just been nomi- 
nated deputy by the department of the Isere. " If it 
is decided that a regicide is admissible," cried M. 
de Corbiere, "the entire Revolution will come out 
of its grave, hideous and bloody." M. de Marcellus 
said, in his indignation : " Such a nomination is an 
outrage on the majesty of the throne and the sanctity 



1819 131 

of the altar." M. Gregoire Avas not admitted. Thus 
opened the session which was to be the most stormy 
one of Louis XVIII. 's reign. 

A few days afterward, the Moniteur said in its 
issue of December 18, 1819 : — 

" S. A. R. Madame the Duchess of Berry, accom- 
panied by one of her ladies and her first equerry, 
mounts a horse nearly every day in the royal riding- 
school. The director of this school has the honor 
of attending her during her exercise, which appears 
to have a favorable effect upon her health, and at 
which S. A. R. Madame the Duchess of Angouleme 
and S. A. R. the Duke of Berry are often present." 

The valiant Duchess doubtless said to herself that 
if the hour of danger arrived, she would like to be 
the first at the most dangerous posts, and mount on 
horseback, like an intrepid amazon, to defend the 
rights of her family and combat the Revolution. 



XVI 

COUNT DECAZES 

rriHERE was a man in France at the beginning of 
JL 1820 who was probably more powerful than 
the King. This was Count Decazes, president of 
the Council of Ministers. The credit he enjoyed 
caused the ultras an exasperation bordering on con- 
vulsive rage. On ascertaining the omnipotence of a 
former favorite of the Empire, it was all the emigres 
could do to refrain from treating Louis XVIII. as a 
disguised Bonapartist or crowned Jacobin. 

Restorations, when accomplished, nearly always 
betray completely the expectations of those by whom 
they have been most ardently desired. The realiza- 
tion of their dream appears to them like a hoax on 
the part of destiny, and on seeing a court utterly 
different from what they had imagined, they experi- 
ence a disgust and astonishment which make them 
lose their temper. Their resentment is all the 
sharper because they are forced to conceal it, and to 
smile at the very moment when they are ready to 
burst with rage. 

The man who excited the jealousy and rancor of 
the courtiers of Louis XVIII. to such a pitch was 

132 



COUNT DECAZES 133 



not yet forty. Born September 28, 1780, at Saint- 
Martin-de-Laye, near Libourne, where bis father was 
lieutenant of the presidial,^ he had been first a bar- 
rister, and afterwards employed in the Ministry of 
Justice, under the Consulate. In 1805 his marriage 
with the daughter of Count Muraire, first president 
of the Court of Cassation, opened to him the career 
of the magistracy. Having been appointed judge of 
the Seine tribunal, he became a counsellor of the 
imperial court in 1806. He was called to the Hague 
the same year by King Louis Bonaparte, whose confi- 
dential counsellor he became. After the abdication 
of this Prince he filled the post of private secretary 
to Madame Mere from 1811 to the close of the 
Empire. 

Under the Restoration he became an avowed royal- 
ist. He refused to keep his post in the magistracy 
during the Hundred Days, and Napoleon exiled him 
forty leagues from Paris. After Waterloo he became 
prefect of police to Louis XVIII. September 24, 
1815, he entered the cabinet as Minister of Police, 
and from that day onward he was the confidant, the 
favorite, the alter ego of the sovereign. 

Chateaubriand, who was so jealous of him, has 
said: — 

"As soon as M. Decazes was appointed minister, 
carriages blocked up the quay Malaquais every even- 
ing, in order to bring all that was noble in the Fau- 

1 An inferior court of judicature. 



134 THE DUCHESS OF BEERY 

bourg Saint-Germain to the salon of the paiVenu. 
Do what he may, the Frenchman will never be any- 
thing but a courtier, no matter of whom, providing 
he is in power at the time. A coalition of follies in 
favor of the new favorite was speedily formed. In 
democratic society, prate about liberty, declare that 
you behold the advance of the human race and the 
future of things, throw in a few crosses of honor, 
and you are sure of your place. In aristocratic 
society play whist, utter commonplaces with an air 
of profundity, and get off witticisms carefully pre- 
pared in advance, and the fortune of your genius is 
assured. M. Decazes came to us from Napoleon's 
mother. He was familiar, obliging, and never inso- 
lent; he wanted to do me a favor, and I did not care 
about it; that was the beginning of my misfortune. 
It ought to have taught me that one should never 
fail in respect to a favorite." 

The secret of the success of M. Decazes was that 
his conversation interested and amused Louis XVIII. 
He had been trained at a good school to make him- 
self agreeable to the great ones of the earth. Hav- 
ing learned how to please King Louis Bonaparte, 
who was of a gloomy disposition, Madame Mere, 
who was easily provoked to anger, and Queen Hor- 
tense, who was very gay and amiable, but who was 
accustomed to much flattery as a queen, and more 
still as a woman, M. Decazes acquired early the 
suppleness necessary to court life. On the other 
hand, his term in the judiciary and his remarkable 



COUNT DECAZES 135 



ability as president of the assize court had revealed 
to him both the strength and the weaknesses of the 
human heart. To this must be added that his func- 
tions as prefect of police, by initiating him into all 
the secrets of Parisian life, had given him clues to 
all the intrigues of the court and the city. 

Louis XVIII., whose greatest pleasure was in 
conversation, and who was a talker of the first 
order, found his interviews with his young minister 
extremely charming. M. Decazes talked well, and, 
moreover, listened well, — a rarer accomplishment 
than one supposes. The King liked to tell stories. 
In his minister he found an enthusiastic auditor, 
careful to note the best points of each royal anecdote, 
and ready to give intelligent and respectful rejoin- 
ders to the sovereign, w^ho considered himself a 
sort of crowned professor. "It was I, however," 
exclaimed Louis XVIII. , "who recognized the merit 
of this young man, calculated his range, and formed 
him. He is my work, and people are still very far 
from knowing his full worth." He had arrived at 
the point of considering his favorite minister not 
merely as a faithful servant and friend, but as a son ; 
so he styled him wdien speaking and waiting to him. 

Louis XVIII. , whose infirmities forced him to be 
idle, dreaded the fatigue of labor. His ministers 
importuned him ; M. Decazes was able to divert him. 
Through his past connections and present functions 
as iMinister of Police, he knew better than any one 
else the secret histories of Xapoleon's palace and 



136 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

those of the great lords and ladies of the new court. 
Even when discussing public affairs he would tell 
anecdotes which the King would cap by others. In 
this way the time passed agreeably. The matters 
to be discussed were prepared in concise notes, 
quickly read, which the King made a show of cor- 
recting as a professor does the exercises of his pupil. 

If M. de Vaulabelle may be believed, Louis 
XVIII. had undertaken to teach his minister Eng- 
lish. The latter, whose progress was very rapid, 
gave all the credit to his royal master, who evidently 
accepted it, never suspecting, it is added, that before 
going to the Tuileries, M. Decazes took an English 
lesson every day from one of the best teachers in 
Paris. 

The King's affection for his minister became a 
real infatuation. He made him a count, a peer of 
France, Minister of the Interior, and President of 
the Council. As M. de Viel-Castel has very justly 
remarked, it was all the easier for M. Decazes to 
succeed in convincing the King of his absolute devo- 
tion, because, touched himself by the kindness with 
which he was treated and the affection displayed 
toward him by the sovereign, he responded to it by 
profound gratitude. After being a widower for 
twelve years, he had married in 1818, thanks to the 
royal protection, a young person of noble family, 
Mademoiselle de Saint-Aulaire, grandchild through 
her mother of the last reigning Prince of Nassau- 
Sarrebruck, and grandniece of the Duchess of Bruns- 



COZTNT DECAZES 137 



wick-Be vern, who obtained for the new married pair, 
from Frederick VI. of Denmark, the succession of 
the duchy of Glucksberg. In speaking of his favor- 
ite minister, Louis XVIII. said, "I will raise him 
so high that the greatest lords will envy him." Any 
criticism aimed at M. Decazes was considered by 
the sovereign as a seditious attempt against royal 
authority, and a sort of conspiracy or high treason. 
The influence of the minister tended to favor ideas 
of moderation and compromise. It was he who made 
the conciliatory remark : " Whether we come to the 
King through the Charter or to the Charter through 
the King, we shall be equally welcome." It was 
he who brought about the celebrated decree of Sep- 
tember 5, 1816, by which the reactionary Chamber 
had been dissolved. It was he who did most to end 
the White Terror. It was he who, through natural 
benevolence as much as through policy, had labored 
most efBcaciously to open the prisons, recall the 
exiles, and those condemned in contumacy, and even 
not infrequently to procure for them governmental 
favors. It was he who decided Louis XVIII. to 
assume definitely the role of a liberal and constitu- 
tional monarch. "That such a man," sa3'S M. de 
Viel-Castel, " could have incurred the furious hatred 
by which he was pursued, would be incomprehensi- 
l^le if one did not know what has always been the 
fate of the favorites of kings in France whenever 
they have exercised great power. " Excited by hatred, 
the imagination of the ultras went so far as to invent 



138 THE DUCHESS OF BEERY 



the most unlikely and absurd motives for the sover- 
eign's affection for his minister. Still the Emigres 
said, "Long live the King!" all the same. But in 
their view, Louis XVIIL, led astray by M. Decazes, 
was nothing but a revolutionist. 



XVII 



THE DUKE OF BEREY 



THE Duke of Berry was not favorable to M. 
Decazes; but, being full of respect for the 
wishes of Louis XVIII., who imposed severe disci- 
pline on all his family, he refrained from opposition 
to the prime minister, and maintained a reserved 
attitude at court. The character of the Prince had 
changed for the better. Family life had softened 
his irascible temper. As he grew older he gained 
experience and judged men and things more wisely 
than in his early youth. His bluntness had become 
good nature; his rudeness, simplicity. "His coun- 
tenance," says M. de Lamartine, "did not reveal his 
intelligence and goodness until it expanded in a 
smile. Then, in the frank and cordial penetration 
of his glance, the fixed contraction of his eyelids, 
the wrinkles around his mouth, the abandon of his 
gestures, and the sincere and animated tone of his 
voice, one divined the wit, felt the soldier, felt the 
good heart." Two eminent qualities he possessed 
in a high degree, — bravery and charity. 

He was a good husband, a good friend, and a good 
master. Much beloved in his own house, he estab- 

139 



140 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

lished perfect order there. When he learned that 
one of his servants had deposited money in the sav- 
ings bank, he doubled the sum, so as to encourage 
his domestics to practise economy and make them 
provident for the future. Anecdotes were told about 
him which showed his natural goodness. One day 
the horse of a dragoon of the guard, who was accom- 
panying the King, fell down, and the dragoon's leg 
was broken. The Duke of Berr}^ who was out driv- 
ing with his wife, met the poor fellow. He alighted 
from the carriage at once, had the soldier put into it., 
ordered that he should be taken to the Elysee and 
cared for until he should be completely cured, and 
then walked home with the Princess under a burn- 
ing sun. 

Another day, as he was going to Bagatelle, in 
crossing the Bois de Boulogne he met a little child 
carrying a large basket. Stopping his cabriolet, hei 
called out: "Little man, where ai-e you going?" — 
"To La Muette, to carry this basket." "Thalj 
basket is too heavy for you. Give it to me; I'll 
leave it as I go by." The basket was placed in the 
cabriolet, and the Prince left it at the given address. 
He went afterwards to find the child's father and 
said to him : " I met your little lad ; you make him 
carry baskets that are too heavy; you will destroy 
his health, and prevent him from growing. Buy 
him a donkey to carry his basket." And he gave 
the father money to buy the donkey. 

Another time, as he was out walking, he saw a 



THE DUKE OF BEBRY 141 

very animated group of charcoal-burners, who were 
trying to prevent one of their number from throw- 
ing himself into the Seine. Without being recog- 
nized, he approached them and inquired the cause of 
the despair of the poor devil who wanted to kill him- 
self. It was the loss of some money which impelled 
him to suicide. The Prince opened his purse at 
once, and the charcoal-burner did not throw himself 
into the river. His comrades were greatly aston- 
ished when they learned that the man with whom 
they had just been talking so familiarly was the 
King's nephew. 

The Duke of Berry practised charity intelligently 
and without ostentation. It has been calculated 
that in six years his alms had amounted to one 
?nillion three hundred and eighty-eight thousand 
eight hundred and fifty-one francs. He visited the 
poor with his wife, and not only gave them money, 
but words of consolation. " Those who had the least 
good feeling toward the Prince," says Chateaubriand, 
" were disarmed as soon as they saw him ; he never 
came out of a museum, studio, or manufactory with- 
out leaving" a friend behind him there. If he saw an 
infant, he ran toward it, took it in his arms, caressed 
and embraced it, and behold a father and mother were 
wholly won. If a work of art w^ere shown him, he 
examined it attentively; the artist or the connois- 
seur was charmed. In a word, he followed toward 
all the world, and through good nature, the counsel 
of Nestor, who recommended that every soldier 



142 THE DUCHESS OF BEEEY 

should be called by his own name, in order to prove 
to him that he was known and his family esteemed." 

As to the Duchess of Berry, happy, gay, in excel- 
lent health, rejoicing in another pregnancy, and hop- 
ing this time certainly to have a son, she beheld the 
future under the most glowing colors. Deeply 
attached to her husband and enjoying without a 
drawback the greatest happiness of life, a legitimate 
love, she thanked God for her lot. 

Count de Mesnard writes in his Souvenirs intimes : 
" The Duchess of Berry, Avho prefers the freedom of 
private life to everything else, haunts the shops, 
promenades, and theatres. . . . She possesses be- 
yond any one else the charm and grace which cap- 
tivate. Nothing equals her kindness to all who 
surround her. Her ladies of honor are the objects 
of her entire solicitude. If there is a ball at the 
palace, she dresses them for it with her own hands ; 
she takes pleasure in adorning them and thinking 
that they will be admired. One may add also, that 
she is adored in return for all the good she does." 
Alas! how short lived was this happiness! And 
what reason Chateaubriand had to say : " Happy is 
the man unknown to the world, who wakes up in a 
thatched cabin, in the midst of his children, who are 
not pursued by hatred, and of whom not one is lack- 
ing to the paternal embraces ! At what a price must 
croAvns be purchased nowadays ? And what is to-day 
but an empire?" 

The Duke of Berry was about to terminate his life 



THE DUKE OF BERRY 143 

by a good action, — that of making generous repara- 
tion for a wrong clone in a moment of anger to one 
of his servants named Soubriard. On Saturday, 
February 12, 1820, the Prince had hunted in the 
Bois de Boulogne. Everything went wrong; peo- 
ple passing back and forth disturbed the game. The 
Prince very unjustly accused Soubriard of all the 
mishaps of the chase, treated the poor man badly, 
and left him in consternation. But the Duke of 
Berry was good. He very quickly repented of his 
violence, and on his return to the Elysee he sadly 
remarked to Madame de Gontaut: "Pity me; I have 
just wounded the heart of a man whom I love and 
who would give his life for me. I have acted very 
badly; I have been very wicked." Just then he 
took his little girl in his arms to give her a kiss. 
She was frightened, and she cried. "She is right 
to be afraid of a sinner," said he. Madame de Gon- 
taut seemed to find it impossible to believe that the 
Prince could have left the unfortunate servant with- 
out a word of consolation. " Alas," said he, " that is 
where you deceive yourself. Poor, poor Soubriard, 
I left him sad and unhappy. But I Avill not forget 
him; the day is not ended yet." 

The next day, Sunday, February 13, the Duke of 
Berry came to see his daughter before going to the 
King's Mass. After embracing her he gave her 
back to her governess, saying: "Don't scold me any 
more ; after leaving you yesterday I signed an order 
which will, I hope, secure Soubriard's happiness for 



144 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

the rest of his life. I confide the service o£ my 
daughter to him; he is to be my huntsman." Then, 
although in haste to get away, he stopped to tell 
Madame de Gontaut in confidence that he was cer- 
tain that in a few months the Duchess, his wife, 
would contribute another infant to his happiness. 
His face shone with joy. 

For some days anonymous letters had been 
announcing to him that a tragical death w^as im- 
pending over him. But, brave as his sword, the 
descendant of Henri IV. scorned such threats. 
When he was entreated to take precautions : " What 
would you have ? " said he. " If any one has made 
the sacrifice of his own life in order to take mine, he 
will succeed in executing his project one day or 
other, whatever precautions one takes. In the con- 
trary case I should have made myself needlessly 
unhappy." He considered politics as a battle-field, 
and was as calm in front of the poniards of assassins 
as in front of cannon-balls. For a long time he had 
not permitted the guards to form a double line when 
he went into or came out of a theatre. Not merely 
did he object to being guarded, but he complained 
at being the object of a surveillance which annoyed 
him. He especially desired to get rid of a man, 
belonging doubtless to the police, whom he found on 
his track wherever he went. He requested Baron 
d'Haussez to speak about it to M. Decazes. On 
February 13, M. d'Haussez came to tell the Prince 
about his interview with the minister. It turned 



THE DUKE OF BEBEY 145 



out that the man in question, far from belonging to 
the police, was a suspected individual on whom they 
were going to keep their eyes. The Duke of Berry 
was satisfied with the explanation, and said, smiling, 
'' I hope that my restoration to the minister's favor 
Avill last at least until next summer; for then I hope 
to go and chase the chamois and the bear in the 
Alps." 

The Prince spent the remainder of the day gaily ; 
he was happy as a prince, as a Frenchman, and as a 
husband. In the evening he went with his wife to 
the Opera. 



XVIII 

LOUVEL 1 

WHILE the Duke of Berry, holding himself 
aloof from political intrigues and agitations, 
was living peaceably at the Elysee with his amiable 
wife, and winning the approbation not merely of the 
friends, but the enemies of the Restoration by his 
circumspect attitude, a man to whom he had never 
done the slightest harm, a man who had never 
spoken to him, and who had no manner of acquaint- 
ance with him, was pursuing him with a ferocious 
and implacable hatred. This absolutely obscure 
individual was preparing to win for himself, at one 
stroke, the horrible celebrity of crime. He was a 
saddler named Louvel. Cold, taciturn, and solitary, 
he worked at his trade with the utmost punctu- 
ality. His comrades would have been greatly 
surprised had any one come to tell them that this 
workman was getting ready for a crime which would 
make an immense commotion throughout the world. 
Nothing in his relations, language, or habits could 

1 See M. de Nauroy's remarkable work, Le Due de Berry et 

'Louvel. 

146 



LOUVEL 147 



suggest anything of the sort. History abounds in 
dramatic strokes which no playwright could have 
invented. 

What were the origin and antecedents of this 
unknown man who was about to change the whole 
political situation from top to bottom ? Louis Pierre 
Louvel was born at Versailles, October 7, 1783, of 
Jean Pierre Louvel and his second wife, Fran^oise 
Moutier, both of them small shopkeepers. He lost 
his mother when he was two years old, and his father 
when he was twelve. An elder sister, Th^rese, 
entered him at the Institute of the Children of the 
Country, at Versailles, where, receiving gratuitous 
elementary instruction, as it was then understood, 
he learned to read in the Constitution of 1791, and 
the Declaration, of the Rights of Man. Theophilan- 
thropic hymns took the place of the catechism for 
him. He was apprenticed to a saddler at Montfort- 
I'Amaury, but being taken away again by his sister, 
who was alarmed by his weakly constitution, he 
assisted her for a time in her haberdashery shop. 
He was a sober, industrious, and steady child. He 
used to buy several four-pound loaves at a time, 
because, said he, one eats less bread when it is stale. 

At eighteen, Louvel made his tour of France as 
a workman, and afterwards became a soldier. He 
entered an artillery regiment of the imperial guard, 
but was dismissed at the end of six months on 
account of the extreme weakness of his constitution. 
He grieved profoundly over the invasion of 1814 



148 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

and the downfall of Napoleon. His brain was-dis- 
ordered by it. Thenceforward he considered himself 
as an avenger. He intended to strike Louis XVIII. 
at the moment when the King should land in France, 
and walked from Metz to Calais for that purpose. 
At the same epoch he had an idea of assassinating 
the Marshal Duke of Valmy for having acceded to 
the deposition; and the Count of Artois as guilty 
of emigration. From Calais he went to Paris. The 
triumphant entry of the Allies, and the ovations 
offered them by the royalists inflamed his exaspera- 
tion to the fury of concentrated rage. He swore to 
himself to kill one or more of the men wdiom he 
regarded as public enemies and traitors to their 
country. But first he desired to see the Emperor, 
his hero, and he repaired to the island of Elba. 
The chief saddler of the imperial stables gave him 
employment from September to November, 1814, 
without Napoleon's surmising the devotion of this 
fanatical admirer. The economic reforms instituted 
in the household of the sovereign of Elba caused 
Louvel's dismission. He went to Leghorn, and 
from there to Chambery, where he continued to 
work as a journeyman saddler. He was in the 
latter town when his employer's wife brought him 
a journal which announced that Napoleon had just 
landed in the Bay of Juan. At this news he rose 
without a word, and hanging his working-apron on 
a nail, went to rejoin the Emperor at Lyons. He 
went into the imperial stables as a saddler, and was 



LOVVEL 149 



admitted into the train of vehicles which followed 
Napoleon from Paris to Waterloo. He witnessed 
the final disaster with mortal anguish, and again 
followed the footsteps of the vanquished. The 
Emperor's equipages having stopped at Rochelle, he 
stopped also, and it was there that he caused a cutler 
to make with great care the knife with which he 
intended to slay a Bourbon. Lamartine describes 
him as " a little man, thin-limbed, wasted by inter- 
nal consumption, yellow with bile, pale from inces- 
sant emotion, with a hard glance, compressed lips, 
and a tense, concentrated, and suspicious face; an 
image of fanaticism revolving in a narrow brain, an 
ill-comprehended idea, and suffering, until his fatal 
hand should have unburdened it by a crime, from the 
weight and the martyrdom of this idea." 

In 1820 Louvel was employed as a saddler in the 
royal stables, and lived in the Place du Carrousel on 
that account. For a long time he had been possessed 
by his monomania; he had the madness of crime. 
" From the day when my resolution was definitely 
taken," he has said himself, "I avoided all intimate 
relations, wherein, without intending to do so, I 
might betray my secret. If, during my travels, I 
have always appeared solitary and taciturn, this 
would naturally be the character of a man whose life 
has always been roving and sedentary. Later on, I 
established myself at Paris ; my plan entirely occu- 
pied me, and there was to be no further place for 
anything else in my life. I even kept away from 



150 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

women, although I might be fond of them. . . .^ I 
was so far from giving away my secret to any one 
that I did not even once allow myself to speak 
against the Bourbons. That would have been a 
very useless imprudence." 

After hesitating long over his choice of a victim, 
Louvel determined to strike the Duke of Berry, as 
the youngest and most energetic member of the 
royal family. But listen to his disclosures : " I fol- 
lowed the Duke of Berry during four consecutive 
years, to spectacles where I supposed he would be 
present, to the chase, to the public promenades, and 
in the churches. Several times I found good oppor- 
tunities, but my courage always failed me; in 1817, 
1818, and 1819, I was too feeble, and more than once 
I relinquished my project. But I was soon mastered 
by a sentiment which was stronger than I. I espe- 
cially recall my thoughts one day when I was walk- 
ing in the Bois de Boulogne and waiting for the 
Prince. I trembled with rage when thinking of the 
Bourbons; I had seen them returning with the for- 
eigners, and I was horrified by it; then my thoughts 
took a different turn; I believed myself unjust 
towards them, and reproached myself for my designs ; 
but my anger immediately returned. For more than 
an hour I remained fluctuating between these alter- 
natives, and was not yet settled when the Prince 
passed by and was saved for that day. Neither was 
I without irresolution on February 13, although two 
or three days earlier I had sought to fortify myself 



LOUVEL 151 



by going to P^re Lachaise to look at the graves of 
Lannes, Mass^na, and the other warriors." 

Louvel was not an ordinary assassin. He belonged 
to the same race as Brutus, Aristogeiton, Jacques 
Clement, and Ravaillac, those victims of a false con- 
science, a fixed idea; involuntary instruments of a 
sort of fatality, acting neither from interest, ambi- 
tion, nor cupidity, pushed on to a specific crime, and 
perhaps to be pitied as well as blamed. Such crimi- 
nals probably excite less horror than a wretch like 
Deutz. The man who kills a prince is not so vile 
as the man who betrays a woman. 

Paris, meanwhile, was in the full tide of mirth 
and masquerading on the last Sunday before Lent, 
February 13, 1820. Forgetting party quarrels, all 
classes of society were amusing themselves. There 
had been a great ball the night before at the house of 
Count Greffulhe, at which the Duke and Duchess of 
Berry had been present. Small knives had been dis- 
tributed to the ladies, in allusion to a play, the 
Petites Dana'ides, in which the comic actor, Potier, 
was then amusing all Paris. Were not these knives 
ominous ? 

It is said that, a few days before his death, Henri 
IV., disturbed by gloomy presentiments, remarked 
to Sully, "I shall die in this city; I shall never 
leave it; they will kill me!" and to the Queen, 
Maria de' Medicis, "Pass on, Madame the Regent." 
At the very moment when he was being warned of 
the conspiracies formed against his person, a rumor 



152 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

of his death was current in Spain and at Milan, 
and a week before his murder there passed through 
Li^ge, so they say, a courier who bore the news of 
his death to a German prince. 

Similar signs had been occurring for some time 
with relation to the Duke of Berry. Every day 
he received anonymous letters containing horrible 
threats. His death had been announced in London 
at the beginning of February. But the Prince was 
bravery itself. The invisible poniard whose point 
he instinctively felt to be aimed at him, caused him 
neither fear nor trouble. He was one of those men 
whose good nature and even whose gaiety are not 
disturbed by danger. At this time he thought of 
nothing but amusing himself while amusing his 
young wife, always so eager for pleasures and diver- 
sions. 

During the day the Parisians had enjoyed one of 
their favorite sights, the fat ox led in procession 
round the city at Shrovetide. After watching the 
procession, Louvel returned home to get a second 
poniard, and then went to dinner in a restaurant 
where he boarded. In the evening there were two 
aristocratic balls, — one at the house of Marshal 
Suchet, Duke of Albufera, in the rue du Faubourg 
Saint-Honore ; and the other, a masquerade, at the 
house of Madame de La Bridie, in the rue de la 
Ville I'Eveque. It was supposed that the Duke 
and Duchess of Berry would not attend these balls, 
but would go to the Opera, where there was to be 



LOUVEL 153 



an extraordinary representation which promised to 
be very brilliant. 

The Noces de Gamache^ the Rossignol^ and the 
, Carnaval de Venise were to be given. The latter 
piece was a ballet whose music was composed by 
Persuis and Lesueur. Albert and La Bigottini 
interpreted the principal roles. A dancer named 
Elie, who was to replace Merante in the r61e of 
Polichinello, and who wished to surpass him, was 
the subject of much comment: people said he had 
studied with Seraphin, by watching the artificial 
movements of his little wooden puppets. 

The Opera-house was at this time in the rue 
Richelieu, opposite the Royal Library. It was 
inaugurated August 7, 1794, and occupied the site 
of the present Louvois Square. It had five tiers of 
boxes, including those on a level with the pit. It 
could seat something like sixteen hundred and fifty 
persons; and while its exterior was not at all im- 
posing, the interior was a masterpiece of elegance. 

A special entrance on one side of the edifice, just 
opposite the rue Rameau, was reserved for the royal 
family. It was there that Louvel awaited the com- 
ing of his victim. "Great personages," said he 
later on, " make a mistake in taking so few precau- 
tions as they do, especially when they have sins on 
their consciences. In this respect the German 
princes are more prudent than our own. When they 
are getting into a carriage, the soldiers, instead of 
presenting arms to them, as ours do, turn their 



154 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

backs; they are quite in the right, for nobody' can 
then approach without being seen. I have noticed 
another thing : when the Prince entered the Opera, 
towards eight o'clock, the servants cried out to the 
coachman in such a way that I understood them, per- 
fectly: 'Come back at a quarter before eleven.' This 
was an imprudence, and I profited by it." 

The Duke and Duchess of Berry had just entered 
the hall. Louvel, possibly hesitating still, wan- 
dered up and down between the Opera and the Palais 
Royal, awaiting the moment when the Duke should 
leave the theatre. 



XIX 

THE MURDER OF THE DUKE OF BERRY 

IT is eight o'clock in the evening. The Duke 
and Duchess of Berry have just entered the 
Opera-house, and all the lorgnettes are levelled at 
them. The audience is very large. The boxes are 
filled with women covered with diamonds. Every- 
thing wears an air of festivity. The representation 
is to be more brilliant and elegant than the others. 
The joy of the spectators is depicted on their faces. 
The Duke and Duchess of Orleans, who are in a box 
with their family, exchange friendly signs with the 
Duke and Duchess of Berry. The Rossignol and 
the Noees de Gamache are successful. The specta- 
cle is to terminate Avith the ballet of the Carnaval de 
Venise^ the principal attraction of the evening. 

What is Louvel doing all this time ? He roams 
about in the neighborhood of the theatre, still pon- 
dering whether to strike or to spare the object of his 
hatred. "At eight o'clock," he will say afterwards, 
" I was in front of the Opera-house, and I could have 
killed the Prince when he entered, but at that 
moment my courage failed me. I heard the rendez- 
vous given for a quarter before eleven ; but neverthe- 

155 



156 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

less I went away, fully resolved to go to bed.' In 
the Palais Royal, my thoughts returned more forci- 
bly than ever. I reflected that I must return to 
Versailles at the end of the month, and that then my 
project would be adjourned for a long time. I began 
to ponder, and I said to myself: *If I am right, why 
does my courage fail me ? If I am wrong, why do 
not these ideas leave me ? ' I decided then upon 
that very evening. It was barely nine o'clock, and 
while awaiting the given hour, I walked up and 
down between the Palais Royal and the Opera-house 
without my resolution weakening, unless it might 
be at long intervals, and then for a few instants 
only." 

Meanwhile the performance is going on. Between 
the acts the Duke and Duchess of Berry go to pay a 
visit to the box of the Duke and Duchess of Orleans. 
The Duke of Berry, who is very fond of children, 
caresses those of his cousin. He bestows especial 
attention on the Duke of Chartres, his favorite, and 
is seen passing his hand often through the little 
Prince's fair hair. The audience, pleased with the 
cordial relations existing between the two branches 
of the Bourbon family, applaud them several times. 
On returning to her box, the Duchess of Berry is 
jostled with some violence by the door of another 
box. She had gone to bed very late the night 
before, and her husband proposes that she shall 
return home. He will attend her to her carriage 
and then return to the hall to see the end of the 



THE MURDER OF THE DUKE OF BERRY 157 



ballet. The Princess accepts this offer, and goes 
down the stairway of the theatre, leaning on her 
husband's arm. It wants some minutes of eleven. 

Louvel is before the door. Posted near a cabriolet 
which follows the carriage of the Prince, and stand- 
ing at the horse's head, he seems to be a domestic, 
and attracts nobody's attention. The Duke's car- 
riage draws up before the Princes' door, opposite the 
rue Rameau. The guards beneath the vestibule and 
the sentry who has his back toward the rue Richelieu 
present arms. Here are tlie Duke and Duchess 
under the penthouse of the portico. The Count of 
Choiseul, aide-de-camp to the Prince, is at the sen- 
try's right, in the angle of the entrance door. The 
Count of Mesnard, chief equerry to the Duchess, 
offers his left hand first to her and afterwards to her 
lady-in-waiting, the Countess of Bethisy, to assist 
them in entering the carriage. The Duke gives 
them his right hand. One of the servants shuts up 
the steps of the carriage. 

Still standing under the penthouse, the Duke 
waves his hand to his wife, and says, "Adieu, 
Caroline; we shall see each other presently." All 
of a sudden, just as lie is about to re-enter the hall, 
a man throws himself upon him, and seizing his left 
shoulder with one hand, gives him a poniard thrust 
under the right breast with the other. The Count 
of Choiseul, thinking that this man has involuntarily 
jostled against the Prince while running, pushes 
him back, saying, "Take care what you are doing." 



158 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

The murderer takes flight, leaving his poniard in the 
wound. "I am assassinated!" cries the Prince. 
And as those about him question him, he cries a 
second time, in a loud voice, "I am a dead man; 
I have the poniard in me! " Then he tears the knife 
from his wound and gives it into the hands of the 
Count of Mesnard. The Princess, whose carriage 
has not yet started, has heard her husband's cry of 
anguish, and while others are running in pursuit of 
the assassin, she flings herself out of the door, which 
is opened by a footman. Madame de B^thisy tries 
to hold her back. The Duke of Berry, summoning 
all his strength, calls out, "Wife, I beg you not to 
get out." But she, springing over the carriage 
steps, and pushing away with both hand Madame de 
B^thisy and the footman, cries, "Let me alone, let 
me alone; I order you to let me alone." Alighting 
from the carriage, she receives her husband in her 
arms at the very moment when he had just handed 
the bloody knife to M. de Mesnard, and as he was 
exclaiming, "I am dying; a priest; come, wife, let 
me die in your arms." They made him sit down on 
a bench in the passageway where the guards were, 
leaned his back against the wall, and opened his 
clothes to look for the wound. The blood flowed so 
abundantly that the Princess tried in vain to staunch 
it. Her robe and that of Madame de B^thisy were 
covered with it. 

Meanwhile the assassin was fleeing, hotly pursued 
by the Count of Choiseul, Count Clermont-Lodeve, 



THE MURDEli OF THE DUKE OF BEBBT 159 

Desbies the sentry, a footman, and several other per- 
sons. What would Louvel have done, had he not 
been arrested? He will tell us himself later on. 
"If I had succeeded in escaping on the evening 
when I struck the Prince," he will say, "I should 
have returned to sleep at my usual lodgings in the 
King's stables, where certainly nobody would have 
suspected me, and I should have continued to carry 
out my plans on some other member of the family. 
Perhaps I should have stopped after Monsieur; 
because, as to the King, I do not think he has ever 
borne arms against France. And the only thing I 
regret to-day is that I was taken so soon." 

Louvel is taken. At the moment when he was 
running at full speed in the rue Richelieu, toward 
the boulevard, the street lights showed him as he 
upset in his flight a lemonade-seller, Paulmier by 
name, who was passing near the Colbert Arcade, 
carrying a tray, on which his beverages were spread, 
to the Opera-house. This fellow runs after the 
man who had thrown down his tray. Louvel is ar- 
rested, and taken to the Avatch-house of the Opera. 
M. de Clermont is the first one who spoke to him. 
"Monster," says he, "who could have induced you 
to commit such a crime?" The murderer replies, 
"The most cruel enemies of France." They fancy 
he is about to make avowals and name his accom- 
plices. Not at all. Louvel's phrase is neither an 
expression of repentance nor an allusion to accom- 
plices. It is merely an insult offered by the assassin 



160 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

to the family of his victim. He is searched, -and 
they find on him the sheath of the weapon he had 
left in the Prince's wound, and also a sort of stiletto 
of a different shape. 

During this time, the Duke of Berry has been 
taken up stairs to the little salon behind his box. 
He is placed on a sofa, with his head resting on 
his wife's shoulder. The Duke and Duchess of 
Orleans, and also Mademoiselle d' Orleans, who have 
just been notified in their box, hasten to this little 
salon. There the Count of Clermont announces that 
the assassin has been arrested. " Is he a foreigner? " 
asks the Prince. As some one answers no, he 
exclaims, "It is very cruel to die by the hand of a 
Frenchman." 

Meanwhile the performance continues. The audi- 
ence does not know what has just happened. The 
ballet is a wonderful success. From the salon where 
the Prince is agonizing, one can hear the music, 
and through a large window which opens into the box 
from this salon, even the dancing women on the 
stage can be seen. Truly a Shakespearean contrast 
between the death agony and pleasure. 

Two doctors, MM. Lacroix and Caseneuve, had 
arrived instantly. They have bled him in the arm 
and tried to enlarge the wound so as to make a 
passage for the extravasated blood. Another physi- 
cian. Doctor Blancheton, is there. "Is the wound 
mortal?" the Duchess of Berry says to him. "I 
have courage, I have plenty of it ; I can endure any- 



THE MUBDER OF THE DUKE OF BERET l6i 



thing, aiid I ask you for the truth." The doctor 
dares not express his opinion. 

The Prince asks to see his daughter and the 
Bishop of Amyclee. M. de Clermont hastens to the 
Tuileries in search of the preLate. Some one else 
goes to the Elysee to give the tidings to Madame de 
Gontaut, Mademoiselle's governess. M. de Mesnard 
undertakes to apprise Monsieur, and also the Duke 
and Duchess of Anwulcme. 

One of the first places to which the fatal news 
arrives is the salon of Marshal Suchet, Duke of 
Albufera, where a magnificent ball is going on. 
The Duchess of Reggio, who is present, quits the 
ball-room in great haste. The dances are stopped. 
I recall Victor Hugo's verses on the death of the 
Duke of Berry: — 

" Calm down the transports of insensate madness ; 

'Tween joy and sorrow short the passage of the hours; 
Death loves to lay his hand so fraught with sadness, 
Ice-cold, on foreheads crowned with flowers. 

" To-morrow, soiled with ashes, humbled, bowed to earth, 
The vain remembrance of our mirth 

Shall haunt us almost like remorse. 
Sepulchral pomps shall follow on our plays; 
For with us, wretches! Saturnalian lays 

But usher in the chant above the corse." 

The guests of Madame de La Briche, the mother- 
in-law of the Count of Mol^, among whom were sev- 
eral members of the Prince's household, are in full 



1(52 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBT 

masquerade when they learn the news. Listen to 
the account of an eye-witness, M. de Eemusat: 
"Some thirty persons in society," says he, "had 
dropped in 07i Madame de La Briche in more or 
less grotesque costumes and accompanied by fiddlers. 
They were dancing when some one came to look for 
M. de Bethisy, who commanded the guard at the 
palace, and for M. F. de Chabot, who was aide-de- 
camp to the Prince. The news spread at once ; the 
dancing stopped, and everybody found themselves 
on their feet and talking in undertones ; a dull mur- 
mur succeeded the noise that had been going on ; the 
musicians had disappeared without my being able to 
guess how. It was one of the most dramatic effects 
I ever saw. Some men had gone out and come in 
again; various accounts had been related. The 
effect they produced was curious. More than one 
face hid, under an expression of grief, another of 
malignant joy and the famous 'I told you so!' 
Some even said, 'If he is not very badly wounded, 
all this is fortunate.' Others added, ^For the coun- 
try^ was engraved on the poniard. ' Still others said, 
•'It is all very simple, considering how things are 
going. ' A friend of mine was obliged to retire in 
tears over the revolting absurdity of certain reflec- 
tions that were made. A young man remarked 
naively, thinking, apparentl}^, of the balls that he 
would lose, 'Eh! what a horrible thing, to choose 
Shrove Sunday for it ! ' And it was odd enough to 
see a peer of the realm, M. de M . . . , dressed as 



THE MURDEB OF THE DUKE OF BEREY 163 

a woman, with a toque and a great bare neck, talk- 
ing very seriously and sadly in that costume." 

At the Elysde some one has just rudely awakened 
the Viscountess of Gontaut, the governess of Made- 
moiselle, who must be taken to her dying father. The 
vestibule is already filled with maskers, people, and 
ladies in ball dresses, who are crying and weeping. 
Madame de Gontaut perceives M. Decazes and M. 
de Semonville in this crowd. "Calm j^ourself," the 
latter says to her, "Monsieur the Duke of Berry has 
been wounded by an assassin, but he is not dead." 
She entreats M. Decazes to tell her what he knovfs 
the moment she approaches him. " Oh, speak, 
speak! " she exclaims; "I have a right to know all, 
and in the place you occupy nothing can be a secret 
for you. For mercy's sake, speak!" M. Decazes 
answers, " The Duke of Berry has been assassinated 
as he was leaving the Opera; he is still living, and 
if the poniard was not poisoned, his wound may not 
be mortal." — "But you are here. Monseigneur is 
here too, then?" "No; he is at the Opera. I 
came to assure myself of his safety in case he had 
been brought back; I find nobody to take my- 
orders." — "I will give them; everything shall be 
lighted up and ready. . . . But as I was approach- 
ing just now, I thought I heard you say poison." 
"True; I fear lest the poniard ma}^ have been 
poisoned. The assassin has been arrested, and I am 
going to question him." 

Madame de Gontaut gets into a carriage with the 



164 THE DUCHESS OF BEFBY 

little Princess in the midst of an immense crowd, 
filled with consternation and lighted up by dismal 
torches ; not a word, an almost religious silence, an 
expression of chagrin on all faces. She reaches the 
chamber of sadness with the poor child. 

The Duke of Berry is no longer in the small salon 
near his box. He has been carried to a hall used by 
the directors of the Opera; he is lying on a bed 
where, by a strange coincidence, he had passed the 
first night of his stay in France, at the beginning of 
the Restoration. This bed belongs to M. Grandsire, 
secretary to the Opera, who, living in Cherbourg in 
April, 1814, had lent it for the accommodation of 
the Duke of Berry when the Prince landed at that 
port. Monsieur, the dying man's father, the Duke 
of Angouleme, his brother, and the Duchess of 
Angouleme, his sister-in-law, are standing near 
him. When Madame de Gontaut enters with the 
little Princess, the Duchess of Berry takes her 
daughter and presents her to the unfortunate Prince. 
He makes an effort to embrace her. "Poor child! " 
he exclaims, " mayst thou be less unhappy than thy 
father! " He extends his arms and tries to give her 
his blessing. 

Still, all hope of saving the Prince is not yet 
relinquished. The best surgeons of Paris, among 
others MM. Dupuytren and Dubois have been sum- 
moned. Deep incisions have been made, and the 
wound unbandaged; the application of numerous 
leeches and cupping-glasses has resulted in streams 



THE MUBDEB OF THE DUKE OF BEBBY 165 

of blood; and as the burdened chest seems relieved 
for a moment, there is a momentary hope. Every 
one who comes out of the bloody laboratory is 
besieged for news. General Alexandre de Girardin 
is heard relating that he had been left for dead on the 
battle-field, and nevertheless had recovered from liis 
wounds. But the Prince is not under the slightest 
illusion. "Your efforts, for which I thank you," he 
says to the surgeons, " cannot prolong my existence ; 
my wound is mortal." 

The Duchess of Berry does not leave her husband 
for an instant. Before beginning his surgical opera- 
tions, M. Dupuytren had asked Monsieur to remove 
the Princess. "Father," she exclaims, "do not 
force me to disobey you." Then, addressing herself 
to the surgeon, "I shall not interrupt you, sir; go 
on." Kneeling on the side of the bed during the 
operation, she holds the Prince's left hand, which 
she waters Avith her tears. When, feeling the iron 
in his wound, he cries, " Let me alone, since I must 
die," she says to him, "Suffer for love of me, my 
dear," and the dying man makes not another com- 
plaint. "My dear," he says to her, "don't allow 
yourself to be overcome by grief ; take care of your- 
self for the sake of the child you have yet to 
bear." Several times he asks to see his assassin. 
"What have I done to that man?" he exclaims; 
" could I have offended him without intending it ? " 
— "No," answers his father; "you have never seen 
him, and he has no personal hatred whatever against 



166 THE DUCHESS OF BEEEY 

yon." "He is a lunatic then." And thereafter his 
fixed idea is to save the life of his assassin. " The 
King does not come," he kept on saying; "I shall 
not have time to ask for the man's pardon." 

The Prince is about to die like a saint. Listen to 
Lamartine : — 

" The Duke of Berry's first word is to ask, not for 
a doctor, but for a priest. Struck down in the midst 
of the delirium of youth and pleasure, there is no 
transition in his soul between the thoughts of time 
and the thoughts of eternity. In one second he 
passes from the spectacle of an entertainment to the 
contemplation of his last end, like those men whom 
immersion in a vessel of cold water suddenly arouses 
from the hot delirium of drunkenness. In this 
instantaneous revival, free from any weakness of 
mind, he shows the deliberate courage of a soldier. 
He shows now the faith of a Christian and the anx- 
ious impatience of a man who does not fear to die, 
but only to die before having confessed his faults 
and received the pledge of a second life. His edu- 
cation, imbibed in a family not less incorporated 
with the Church than with the throne, discovers 
itself in the depths of his soul in proportion as the 
effervescence of life subsides Avith his blood. He 
never ceases asking in a low voice if the priest he 
has asked for has not arrived." 

The priest comes at last. It is Mgr. de Latil, 
Bishop of Chartres, Monsieur's first ahuoner. " The 
Duke of Berry," relates Madame de Gontaut, "had 



TUE MUBBEB OF THE DUKE OF BEERY 167 

long experienced an aversion for this prelate, which 
he said he could not even explain ; but as soon as he 
saw him, he said to M. de Clermont-Lodeve, who 
had fetched him: 'That is well! God is giving me 
a trial for which I thank Him. I must make painful 
avowals to the Abbe de Latil, and receive from him 
hope and consolation." The dying man had a long 
interview with the priest, and then, calm and re- 
signed, he asked pardon of God for his sins, and 
of the persons surrounding him for the scandal he 
might have given them. A few moments later, 
the Cure of Saint-Roch brought the holy oils. The 
Prince received the last sacraments with the most 
lively piety. "Ah!" exclaimed the Duchess, "I 
knew well that this beautiful soul was born for 
heaven and would return there." 

During his emigration in England, two daughters 
whom he cherished had been borne to the Prince by 
a pretty and ladylike young Englishwoman, Miss 
Amy Brown. He wishes to embrace them before he 
dies. He speaks in a whisper to his wife, who 
answers aloud : " Let them come ! I want to prove 
to you that I will not abandon them." She orders 
M. Clermont-Lodeve to go and find the two young 
girls. They arrive toward the end of the night. 
The poor little things are trembling greatly. Their 
father talks to them in English ; they kiss his hand, 
and then, turning to the Duchess of Berry, they 
kneel down. The Princess raises them, and leading 
them to Mademoiselle, says, "Embrace your sister." 



168 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

Then, leaning over her husband, she says sereral 
times, "Charles, Charles, I have three children 
now." And she will keep her word; she will be a 
second mother to the young girls, of whom one will 
marry the Count of Faucigny, Prince of Lucinge, 
father of the present deputy, and the other the 
Colonel Baron of Charette, father of the general of 
that name. 

The Duke of Berry has but one more anxiety: he 
wants to obtain the King's pardon for Louvel. The 
hours go by, and the King does not come. This 
delay causes more pain to the dying man than the 
death-struggle itself. Every noise in the street 
makes him think that Louis XVIII. is arriving. " I 
hear the escort," he says. But no; the King is still 
at the Tuileries. At midnight he received the first 
warning; but the gravity of his nephew's condition 
was at first concealed from him. A second bulletin 
was sent him. He wished to set out, but they 
detained him through fear of a conspiracy which 
might break out on his way. At last every pre- 
caution having been taken for guarding the road 
between the Tuileries and the Opera-house, he 
leaves the palace and repairs to the dying man. It 
is five o'clock in the morning. "Father! father!" 
cries the Prince, " the King is not coming ! Cannot 
you promise, in his name, that this man's life shall 
be spared?" Just as he is pronouncing these words 
he shudders. He hears the tread of horses in the 
distance. "At last," says he, "here comes the King. 



THE MUBBEB OF THE DUKE OF BEBBY 169 

Oh! that he would come quickly! I am dying!" 
Louis XVIII. enters. "Mercy!" cries the dying, 
the death-rattle in his throat, "mercy for the man 
who struck me! " And in a faint and muffled voice 
repeats, "At least spare tlie man's life! " 

The King embraces his nephew, and replies, " We 
will talk about that another time ; be calm ; you are 
not so ill as you suppose." Then he sits down near 
the bed. Presently he perceives Miss Brown's two 
daughters. The Duchess of Berry says a word to 
him in an undertone; then, presenting the two 
young girls, she says, "I have promised to adopt 
these children, and I ask the King, in the name of 
him whom we cherish, to deign to bestow his boun- 
ties on them." Louis XVIII. reflects for an instant, 
and then, reminding himself of other reigns, he says, 
" I will give the title of Countess of Vierzon to one, 
and Countess of Issoudun to the other." It is 
uncertain Avhether the dying man can hear this prom- 
ise, which would have been a consolation to him. 
The agony is making terrible progress ; but he is 
still able to articulate once more, "Mercy, mercy 
for the man." It is his last word. It is thirty-five 
minutes past six in the morning. The Duke of 
Berry exists no longer. 

They wanted to remove the Duchess, in order to 
spare her the horror of such a sight. But she 
escapes from the hands of those who seek to keep her 
back, and throws herself upon the inanimate body of 
her husband; then, casting herself at the King's feet, 



170 THE DUCHESS OF BEEBY 

"Sire," she exclaims, "I have one favor to ask of 
Your Majesty. You will not refuse me. It is per- 
mission to return to Sicily. I cannot live here after 
my husband's death." Louis XVIII. tries to calm 
her. She is carried fainting to her carriage, and 
taken back to the Elysee. The courtiers try to 
induce the King to depart also. " I am not afraid of 
the sight of death," he says; "I have a last duty to 
perform towards my nephew." And, leaning on 
M. Dupuytren's arm, he approaches the bed, closes 
the eyes and mouth of the Prince, kisses his hand 
and retires, to return to the palace of the Tuileries. 
The fatal night is ended. Day is breaking. 



XX 

THE DAY AFTER THE MUEDER 

THE Ducliess of Berry returned to the Elysee, 
alas! without her husband. Let us listen to 
Madame de Gontaut, an eye-witness of this doleful 
return : " I sat down beside her ; her head fell on my 
shoulder; the Duchess of Angouleme, who was on 
the front seat of the carriage, supported both of us. 
The ride was brief. Madame regained consciousness 
Avhen we entered the court of the Elysde ; with her 
icy hands she groped for him from whom she had 
just been separated ; to find herself apart from him 
gave her a moment of terrible despair. We wanted 
to take her to her apartment; she refused this and 
went straight to that of Monseigneur. This was 
another agony for her. Everything was in readiness 
to receive him who was no more ; his armchair drawn 
up, his dressing-gown spread out; all except him- 
self, except life. She clung to me convulsively, and 
pressed her daughter to her heart: the poor little 
thing was frightened and cried. I entrusted her to 
Madame Lemoine, Madame having told me to remain 
with her. She wept over everything belonging to 
him; no longer restraining the outbreak of her 

171 



172 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

sorrow, her cries were heartrending. She ,was 
determined to stay in this chamber, and remained 
on her knees beside the bed, which she clutched 
with her nervously contracted fingers. She, so 
calm, so courageous, during the dreadful night, now 
abandoned herself to the very excess of despair. 
She wished to be entirely alone with me; I gently 
entreated her to undress herself, for her clothes 
were still wet with blood. They brought me her 
nightdress, and I was able to persuade her to take 
some repose." 

Madame de Gontaut sat down on the steps of the 
bed, where for several hours the Princess slejDt the 
sleep of fatigue and youth. Her awakening was 
cruel. While she was sleeping, her women had been 
preparing her widow's weeds. No one proposed it 
to her, but as soon as she perceived the costume she 
put it on. Then she went to the Elysee chapel to 
assist at the Mass offered by her almoner for the 
repose of her husband's soul. It was in this 
widow's dress and in this chapel that a painter 
caught a glimpse of her and made a portrait which 
she gave to her daughter's governess. After some 
painful hours, passed partly in prayer, always in 
sobs, she was persuaded to take a little nourish- 
ment. They spoke to her of the infant yet to be 
born. She promised to take care of herself. 

Her father-in-law came to the Elysee, promising 
her his solicitude and assistance, and seeking to sus- 
tain her courage. But in her despair she asked noth- 



TEE BAY AFTER THE MURDER 173 

ing but to leave France and return to Sicily, to go as 
far as possible, so she said, from the place where he 
who alone could make her happy had been caused to 
perish. Monsieur succeeded in calming her and 
induced her to go to Saint Cloud, whither she went 
that very evening with her daughter. 

At Paris the excitement was general. The major- 
ity of its inhabitants did not learn until next morn- 
ing the crime of the previous night. The Moniteiir 
of Monday, February 14, said not a word about it. 
It contained these lines, which were like the irony 
of fate : — 

" To-morrow, Tuesday, there will be theatricals at 
the palace of the Tuileries, in the Gallery of Diana. 
The Opera Comique will play Picaros et Biego ; the 
Vaudeville^ the Chateau de mon oncle ; and the Varid- 
tes, the farcical comedy which is having a run at 
this theatre at present, V Ours et le Pacha.''' 

Instead of the pleasures announced there was uni- 
versal mourning and consternation. Not only were 
the courts, the Bourse, and the theatres closed, but 
the balls, entertainments, and reunions of every de- 
scription, even those that were most insignificant, to 
which the last days of the Carnival were devoted^ 
were countermanded. The most sinister rumors 
were spread abroad. The murder of the Duke of 
Berry was said to be only the prelude to other 
crimes. A vast conspiracy was believed to exist. 
The royalists of every shade were in the utmost fury. 
The liberals thought they were ruined, because a 



174 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

reaction seemed inevitable. On that very clay M. 
Decazes wrote to M. de Serre, who was ill at Nice : 
"We are all assassinated." And M. de Remusat 
wrote to his mother : — 

"Shortly before the Prince's last sigh they had 
sent away his wife; she could not endure it and 
returned. Monsieur stood at the door to keep her 
out; she gave him a violent push, and he fell, and 
she too, and there they both were, the father and the 
wife, rolling about the floor in the wounded man's 
chamber. I don't knoAV anything so heartrending 
as that. And what a spectacle! A whole royal 
family assembled, and where ? At the Opera-house, 
near an assassinated prince lying on the very mat- 
tresses used by the dancers when they fling them- 
selves down from a high place. This is exact; for at 
the first moment these mattresses were the first that 
came to hand, and they were not changed again, for 
fear of disturbing him. And finall}^, to complete 
the strangeness and the grandeur of the spectacle, 
the Blessed Sacrament brought to and received in 
such a place! And this in presence of that old 
King, and of an entire famil}^ which has seen six of 
its members perish by violent deaths within thirty 
years! And what a barrier does not this ncAv crime 
raise between the people and the Kings! How 
many ties have been sundered at a blow ! In what 
relations of suspicion and shame does not one behold 
the family which has received the blows and the 
nation from which the blows proceeded! " 



THE DAY AFTEB THE MUIWEE 175 

At eleven in the morning the tribunes of the 
Chamber of Deputies were already filled, and an 
immense crowd thronged the avenues of the Palais- 
Bourbon. Blended anxiety and wrath were depicted 
on all faces. Then a motion was made which proves 
to what a height the fury and injustice of party 
spirit can rise. Without having taken counsel with 
any members of the Right, M. Clausel de Cous- 
sergues ascended the tribune, and exclaimed : — 

" Gentlemen, there is no law which fixes the mode 
in which ministers shall be accused, but it belongs 
to the nature of such a deliberation that it shall take 
place in public session. I propose to the Chamber 
to bring an aci; of accusation against M. Decazes, 
Minister of the Interior, as accomplice in the assas- 
sination of the Duke of Berry, and I ask to develop 
ni}" proposition." Cries of "Order" proceeded from 
many benches. "That is my opinion, gentlemen," 
said M. Clausel de Coussergues, returning to his 
place on the right. 

During the entire day Monsieur had refused to see 
visitors. At eight o'clock in the evening he con- 
sented to receive the Baron of Vitrolles. He 
embraced him, and fell to weeping. After some 
time M. de Vitrolles began talking politics. Sup- 
posing the infant now expected by the Duchess of 
Berr}^ should prove to be a girl, he asked what was 
to become of the monarchy. The jDOSsible accession 
of the Orleans branch alarmed all the royalists. 
The Spanish branch, moreover, might think of mak- 



176 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

ing good its rights, notwithstanding its renuncia- 
tions, the validity of which had often been contested. 
To avert the dangers of such a situation. Monsieur 
ought to marry again. At these words the Count of 
Artois experienced a sort of shock. "What!" 
exclaimed he, "and it is you who do not fear to 
speak to me of marriage at such a moment! " — "I 
am in despair at being obliged to do sc," replied M. 
de Vitrolles; "but Monsieur's unhappy position is 
such that in him the father, even at this moment, 
ought to give place to the political man, and that 
France and the monarchy should take precedence of 
his grief." The adviser of the Count of Artois went 
on to say that the woman who seemed most suitable 
for the Prince was the Duchess of Lucca, Marie 
Louise de Bourbon, former Queen of Etruria, daugh- 
ter of Charles IV., King of Spain, sister of Ferdinand 
VII., widow of a Bourbon of the Parma branch, and 
mother of a son aged twenty; this young man might 
be summoned to France and made colonel of a regi- 
ment of the guard, and if the Duchess of Berry did 
not bring a son into the world, he might be made 
the heir of the elder branch of the Bourbons. M. de 
Vitrolles has claimed that, far from disapproving. 
Monsieur pressed him with questions concerning the 
age, appearance, and habits of the Duchess of Lucca. 
Such a scheme shows how distm^bed the minds of 
royalists were. 

Their rage against M. Decazes, from whom Louis 
XVIII. persisted in his unwillingness to separate, 



THE DAY AFTER THE MURDER 177 

rose to madness, to frenzy. Their journals, on Feb- 
ruary 15, contained an avalanche of insults, a torrent 
of anathemas against the favorite. 

According to the Gazette de France^ ministers 
whose complicity with Louvel was incontestable 
could not be left at the head of the government. 
The Drapeau hlanc declared that the real criminals 
were the seditious writers who had for a long time 
been preaching revolt and sacrilege, the unworthy 
and perjured deputies who had defended a priestly 
assassin, and above all the fatal man who had 
warmed, nourished, caressed, and unchained the 
revolutionary tiger. "Yes, M. Decazes," added the 
author of the article, "it is you who have slain 
the Duke of Berry. Weep tears of blood, obtain 
the pardon of Heaven, but the country will never 
forgive you." 

The same day, M. de Sainte-Aulaire, the father- 
in-law of the calumniated minister, ascended the 
tribune of the Chamber of Deputies and said: "Since 
M. Clausel de Coussergues, instead of permitting 
his proceeding of yesterday to be attributed to an 
only too legitimate grief, persists in an accusation 
which is simply the monument of his insanity, I 
do not oppose his proposition being placed on the 
minutes. I limit myself to demanding that my 
response to it shall also be placed there. This 
response will not be length3\ I shall merely say to 
him: You are a calumniator." M. Clausel de Cous- 
sergues, without leaving his seat, contented himself 



178 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

with replying, "France will judge." During the 
same session, M. Decazes, remaining impassible in 
the face of so many outrages, submitted to the Cham- 
ber a bill suspending individual liberty. 

The ultras, seeing that their enemy was not yet 
overthrown, pushed their fur}^ beyond all bounds. 
The rage of the women, esj)ecially, was almost 
epileptic. \Yhen the salons break loose, their vio- 
lence is not outdone by that of the most ferocious 
clubs. Court ladies were heard to exclaim, "What 
a pity that the relaxation of the penal laws no longer 
permits tortures proportionate to the enormity of his 
crime to be applied to Louvel, — tortures which would 
wring from him the name of his accomplices ! " 
Nobody would believe that the crime was an isolated 
crime. Any one who should have expressed the 
notion that there had been no conspiracy, that the 
assassin had no accomplices, would have been set 
down as an ill-disposed person, a traitor. The 
royalist press waxed into a formidable crescendo of 
hatred and exasperation. The Journal des Debats 
thundered against the minister "whose policy dis- 
mayed kings and peoples, all powerful against fidel- 
ity, impotent against perfidy." It called him a fro- 
ward child, an. expectant Bonaparte. The Drcqyeaii 
hlanc stated that on the nig^ht of the murder the 
president of the Council had said something in 
Louvel's ear, "doubtless to give him some secret 
instruction." The G-azette de France declared that 
if he remained minister, "civilization was compro- 



THE BAY AFTEB THE MUBDEB 179 

mised, and hell broken loose." M. de Chateaubriand 
wrote that the guiltiest hand was not that which 
struck the blow, and that he should pity M. Decazes 
if that minister consented to "dye his dictatorial 
purple in the blood of the Duke of Berry." On all 
sides, the ultras exclaimed, " If this man remains in 
power, we are all ruined, the monarchy is ended, the 
King and all his family will be assassinated." — 
"Yes, Sire," said President Siguier, speaking on 
behalf of the magistrates of the royal court of Paris, 
"there exists a permanent conspiracy against the 
Bourbons, and ferocious joy has shown itself amid 
the general consternation. May not the pure blood 
which has flowed merely irritate thirst?" 

The more his favorite minister was attacked, the 
more bent was Louis XVIII. on his defence. " The 
wolves," said he, "ask nothing of the shepherd but 
to sacrifice the dog." To him, the dismission of M. 
Decazes would have seemed an abdication. Four 
days had gone by since the murder of the Duke of 
Berry, and the minister still held office. Word had 
been sent him that if he dared present himself at the 
house of the victim's father, he would never leave 
the hall of the body-guards alive. And yet he dared 
go thither. And the ultras said to each other, de- 
spairingly, that Monsieur had been weak enough to 
receive him politely, and even to say to him, "I am 
greatly touched by your sympathy." 

On the morning of February 18 M. de Vitrolles 
was visited by several officers of the royal guard. 



180 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

" Things ought not to go on in this way any longer," 
said they; "the reign of M. Decazes cannot be pro- 
longed; an end must be put to it. Is not Monsieur 
going to give us any orders ? " The same day a rumor 
got about that the minister would be killed at the 
Tuileries, in the hall of the body-guards, when he 
should be passing through it on his way to the King. 
An ultra, M. Mathieu de Montmorenc}", was so con- 
vinced of this that he had the loyalty to warn M. 
Decazes, through M. de Saint-Cricq, by imploring 
him to keep away from the Tuileries in the even- 
ing. The minister paid no attention to these warn- 
ings. But his position became constantly more 
unsettled. " This political struggle succeeding the 
veritable death-struggle," says the late Duke of 
Broglie in his Souvenirs^ " this warfare of influences 
above a corpse, between the morbid tenderness of a 
poor infirm King and the ascendancy of an heir pre- 
sumptive, dangling the bloody shirt of his son in his 
hand, could not last long." 

The Duke and Duchess of Angouleme came to 
dine with Louis XVIII. at the Tuileries in the even- 
ing of February 18. A solemn interview between 
the King and his family took place after the repast. 
The attendants having retired, Monsieur and the 
Duchess of Angouleme threw themselves on their 
knees before the sovereign and entreated him to 
banish M. Decazes. "We make this request," 
exclaimed the daughter of Louis XVI., "to avoid 
another crime." Misunderstanding this remark, 



THE BAY AFTER THE MURDER 181 

Louis XVIII. replied that he would risk the pon- 
iards. "Ah! Sire," replied the Duchess of Angou- 
leme, " thanks be to God, my fears do not extend to 
Your Majesty, but to a person who is dear to you." 
— "I shall be as brave for my friend as for myself," 
returned the King ; " and I defy the crime for him 
as I do for me." The Duke of Angoul^me, who was 
very timid and very respectful toward his uncle, 
kept silence, but his wife and his father insisted 
with great energy. Louis XVIII. was overcome. 
"Sire," said the Count of Artois, "it is impossible 
for me to remain at the Tuileries if M. Decazes, 
publicly accused by M. Clausel de Coussergues of 
complicity in the death of my son, continues there 
as minister. Your Majesty will permit me to retire 
to the Elysee-Bourbon." The King replied nearly 
in these terms: "Eh! what! it is because he is pur- 
sued by a calumny whose extravagance equals its 
atrocity that you want me to smite a man who is so 
devoted to me ! Even the deputies who are opposed 
to him have repelled this calumny with horror, and 
shall I, I only, appear to believe it, when, on the 
contrary, it revolts every faculty of my soul? I 
declare to you that I have never known a heart more 
candid, nor one endowed with a more active and 
genuine sensibility, than Count Decazes. I am con- 
vinced that he would have given his life to save my 
nephew, as he would give it for you. I respect the 
extravagance of your grief; mine is not less heart- 
rending, but does not render me unjust." Then the 



182 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

Duchess of Angouleme made a final effort to ,con- 
vince her uncle: "Sire," said she, "our family has 
been greatly united by misfortune. Let our union 
at least console us! Do not refuse this favor! " "I 
ask it," exclaimed Monsieur, "I ask it as a sacrifice 
to the manes of my son." — "You will have it," 
returned the King ; " very well ! I will see that you 
are satisfied." 

Duke Victor de Broglie says in his Souvenirs : 
" Louis XVIII. abdicated by dismissing his darling 
child, invitus invitum, without ceasing to send him 
three letters a day." The Moniteur of February 21, 
announced that Count Decazes was no longer minis- 
ter, and that the Duke of Richelieu had formed a 
new cabinet. The favorite was compensated by the 
title of duke and the embassy from France to Lon- 
don. The King, possibly, was more afflicted by the 
absence of this friend than by the murder of his 
nephew. "Such," says M. de Viel-Castel in his 
Histoire de la Restauration, "was the termination of 
the ministerial existence of a man who had scarcely 
attained his fortieth year, and who was to live for 
more than forty more, without a return to power 
ever being granted him. For nearly five years he 
had exerted an influence over France which very few 
have equalled. An act which does honor to his 
memory is the decree of September 5, by which, it 
could be affirmed, he added fifteen years to the life 
of the Bourbon royalty." 



THE BAY AFTER THE 3fUBI)ER 183 

M. Decazes hacLiiot disarmed the hatred of his 
enemies by quitting the ministry. More than ten 
days afterwards, M. de Chateaubriand wrote in the 
Conservateur : " What precautions were taken before 
and since the death of the Duke of Berry? Is it not 
true that the prefect of police was deprived six 
months ago of some of his means of surveilhmce? 
and that on the very day of the crime several agents 
of public safety were absent from the place where it 
was committed? The barriers have not been closed, 
passports have not been demanded, mail-bags and 
parcels have not been searched, nor carriages and 
diligences. Not a proclamation, nothing to console 
or enlighten the people. It has been said they 
feared to excite indignation. But those who still 
struggled against public hatred have not been able 
to resist public grief. Our tears, our groans, our 
sobs, have astonished an imprudent minister whose 
feet have slipped in blood." It is true that in the 
same article the author of the Genie du Christianisme 
spoke of " the good natural sentiments of M. Decazes, 
perverted by the little creatures who surround him," 
adding that, the royalists being without rancor, the 
King's favorite ought to recognize in his generous 
enemies the friends whom he should have chosen for 
his own glory and the welfare of France. Despite 
this cloaking over of hatred, the last sentence was 
that which struck the reader most. Chateaubriand, 
to judge by this passage from the Memoir es d^ Outre- 



184 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

Tombe, seems to have repented of it : "I saicl that 
his feet had slipped in blood, which did not signify, 
God forbid! that he was guilty of murder, but that 
he had fallen in the red pool that formed under 
Louvel's knife." 



XXI 

THE OBSEQUIES OF THE DUKE OF BEEKY 

EVERYTHING that concerned the murder of 
the Duke of Berry was calculated to impress 
the imagination. In passing the Opera-house, which 
had been used for the last time on the day of the 
crime, and was about to be demolished from top to 
bottom as an accursed spot, every one made his own 
reflections on the emptiness of human grandeur and 
pleasures. "Let one imagine," says Chateaubriand, 
"an empty theatre after the catastrophe of a tragedy, 
the orchestra deserted, the lights extinguished, the 
scenery moveless, the decorations stationary and 
smoky, the comedians, the singers, and dancers all 
vanished through traps and secret passages." Thus 
pass away, thus vanish, the vanities of the world. 
Even the living are phantoms. 

As soon as the King had closed the Duke of 
Berry's eyes, the mortal remains of the Prince had 
been carried to the Louvre and deposited in the 
apartments of the manager. During the entire day 
the priests of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois prayed 
beside the deceased. Detachments of the body- 
guards were on duty there. The doors of the Louvre 

185 



186 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

were closed. As for the assassin, he had been iaken 
from the theatre of his crime to the Conciergerie and 
put into a strait- jacket to prevent him from com- 
mitting suicide. For twenty-four hours he refused 
all nourishment, but in the end he resigned himself 
to his fate. In the morning of February 15 he was 
brought from the Conciergerie to the Louvre. He 
was taken into a lower room, hung with black, and 
in front of a bed from which the sheet was suddenly 
drawn. This sheet had hidden the body of the 
Prince, still covered with the bloody shirt, the 
wound gaping in the side. Some one said to the 
murderer: "Do you recognize this wound and the 
23oniard which made it?" — "Yes," he answered, 
without the least sign of emotion. " Have you any 
accomplices ? " — " None." 

On returning to his prison, Louvel said to one of 
his keepers : " This morning they inflicted a rough 
spectacle on me ; they took me to the Louvre into 
the presence of the Duke of Berry's corpse. I was 
greatly moved, but I did not let them see it. I did 
not know the Prince, and I had no personal grudge 
against him ; but he was one of those who had borne 
arms against France and brought in foreigners. I 
do not repent of wdiat I have done ; and yet it is a 
horrible thing for a man to throw himself on another 
and poniard him from behind when he is defenceless. 
I know very well that I have committed a crime ; 
through ill-understood and insane patriotism, if you 
like; but people would be wrong to believe it was 



THE OBSEQUIES OF THE DUKE OF BERBY 187 

cowardly. If they knew what force of mind it re- 
quired at the moment of performing it, they would 
have a very different notion. They want to make 
me commit a second crime by trying to force me to 
name my accomplices, when I have none." 

The next day, February 16, the body of the Duke 
of Berry lay in state at the Louvre, and three days 
afterwards the coffin was placed on a catafalque sur- 
rounded with burning tapers, erected in the south 
gallery of the palace, which was hung with funeral 
draperies. Two altars were erected, one on each 
side of the catafalque, where Mass was said in the 
mornings and the Office of the Dead at night. All 
classes of society, from the princes and the Duke of 
Orleans, who sprinkled the holy water as represen- 
tative of the King, down to workmen and the hum- 
blest of the common people, were admitted to pass 
in front of this coffin. The people experienced more 
curiosity than sadness. As Chateaubriand has said: 
" Men love whatever is spectacular, especially death, 
when it is the death of a great personage." The 
multitude that thronged the Louvre complained 
because the Prince's face had been covered so soon; 
they would have liked above all things to see the 
wound. 

The corpse of the Duke of Berry was transported 
from the Louvre to the Abbey of Saint Denis, Feb- 
ruary 22. At five in the morning the drums of the 
National Guard beat the call to arms, and the 
National Guards repaired to the posts assigned them 



188 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

in the Louvre and on the quays. The Dulve of 
Orleans headed the procession, in which four hun- 
dred poor men carried the candles. The market 
porters and the charcoal men of Paris walked in 
the procession. The houses and thatched cabins in 
the villages it passed through had been hung with the 
best the inhabitants possessed. On arriving at the 
basilica of Saint Denis, the coffin was again sur- 
rounded with burning tapers and exposed until 
March 14, the day fixed on for the funeral. 

Rarely has a funeral ceremony presented a charac- 
ter at once so lugubrious and so grandiose. The 
King, the Duke and Duchess of Angouleme, the 
Duke and Duchess of Orleans, Mademoiselle d' Or- 
leans, the Duke of Chartres, and the Prince of 
Conde were present. As all classes of society were 
to be represented, thirty places had been reserved in 
the church for the charcoal men, the market porters, 
and market-women. The old basilica, hung with 
black throughout its whole extent, resembled an 
immense tomb. Bands of light outlined themselves 
against the funereal draperies. The King occupied 
a tribune almost opposite the catafalque, with the 
daughter of Louis XVI. Mgr. de Quelen, coadjutor 
to the Archbishop of Paris, pronounced the funeral 
oration. He had taken this verse of the Bible as his 
text : — 

Convertam, Israel, festivitates vestras in luctum, et 
juhila vestra, in planctum. 

Monsieur's bodj^-guards lifted the coffin and carried 



THE OBSEQUIES OF THE DUKE OF BEBRY 189 

it toward the vault. As they passed in front of the 
tribunes, the King and the Duchess of Angouleme 
kneeled down. Tears flowed from every eye. 

Listen to an eye-Avitness, the author of the Genie 
du Christianisme : " It was not yet two months since 
I had seen the Prince, full of life, sitting, January 
21, in front of the catafalque of Louis XVI. One 
looked for him in vain on the bench near his brother, 
the Duke of Angouleme, and found him only on the 
same catafalque, before which his brother was weep- 
ing. One's eyes turned with emotion towards the 
royal family, already so small, and still diminishing ; 
on the King, who seemed to be meditating amidst 
the ruins of the monarchy; on Madame, wrapped in 
a long crape garment as if it were her usual attire ; 
on the Duke of Angouleme, who was chief mourner, 
and who, bowing to the altar and the cofQn by turns, 
seemed asking from the first strength to behold the 
second. . . . They chanted, they tolled the bells, 
they discharged cannon ; there was such grandeur in 
this pageant that one might fancy he was assisting 
at the obsequies of the monarchy." 

Placed in the very centre of the crypt, the royal 
vault of the Bourbons is its most sombre and impres- 
sive point; the eye cannot penetrate into this lugu- 
brious enclosure save through a grated window, and 
then only by the aid of a torch. There were the 
coffins of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, of 
Madame Adelaide and Madame Victoire, daughters 
of Louis XV. ; of the two children of the Duke of 



190 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

Beny, who died a few hours after they were 'born ; 
of the Prince of Cond^, who died in 1818. There 
the body of Louvel's victim was about to repose. 

The king-at-arms called for the honors in this 
order: "Monsieur the Count of Mesnard, perform- 
ing the functions of chief equerry to Mgr. the Duke 
of Berry, bring hither his sword. 

"Monsieur the Count of Choiseul, aide-de-camp to 
Mgr. the Duke of Berry, bring hither the collar of 
the Order of the Golden Fleece. 

" Monsieur the Viscount of Montl^gier, gentleman 
of honor to Mgr. the Duke of Berry, bring hither the 
star and the ribbon of grand cross of the royal Order 
of the Legion of Honor. 

"Monsieur the Count of Brissac, gentleman of 
honor to Mgr. the Duke of Berry, bring hither the 
star and the ribbon of grand cross of the royal and 
military Order of Saint Louis. 

" Monsieur the Count of Rohan-Chabot, gentleman 
of honor to Mgr. the Duke of Berry, bring hither the 
collar of the Order of the Holy Ghost. 

" Monsieur the Count of Clermont-Lod^ve, gentle- 
man of honor to Mgr. the Duke of Berry, bring 
hither the kingly mantle. 

" Monsieur the Count of Nautouillet, performing 
the functions of first gentleman of the bedchamber 
to Mgr. the Duke of Berry, bring hither the crown." 

As fast as the king-at-arms received one of the 
honors, he gave it to the first herald, stationed on one 
of the steps, and he passed it on to the second, who 



THE OBSEQUIES OF THE DUKE OF BEERY 191 

laid it on the coffin. The vault having been opened 
in presence of the great officers of the crown, the 
Duke of Angouleme, as chief mourner, went down 
into it. The Duke of Berry's coffin was afterwards 
lowered. Then the Duke of Angouleme came up 
alone. Twenty- one cannons announced this moment. 
The Count of Nautouillet, as performing the func- 
tions of first gentleman of the bedchamber to the 
defunct, stood in the entrance of the royal vault and 
addressed the officers of the Prince in these words : 
" Monseigneur the Duke of Berry, your master and 
mine, is dead. Officers, provide for yourselves." 
And finally, the king-at-arms cried twice: "Very 
high, very powerful Prince Charles Ferdinand of 
Artois, Duke of Berry, son of France, is dead! " 
adding after the second time, "Pray God for the 
repose of his soul." 



XXII 



THE ^yIDOW 



A LEGEND of poesy and sadness was about to 
form around the young widow wlio, at twenty- 
one years of age, had been so cruelly stricken. The 
very day of the murder she cut off her hair, — " her 
hair," said she, "which her husband loved." She 
gave the tresses to Madame de Gontaut, saying: 
" Take them ; one day you shall give them to my 
daughter; she will learn that her mother cut off her 
hair on the day her father was assassinated." The 
Elys^e palace, where she had been so happy, and 
where she no longer found her husband, horrified her 
thenceforAvard. She went to hide her sorrow in the 
palace of Saint Cloud. Her father-in-law came there 
to visit her. She was haunted by the idea that the 
murder of the Duke of Berry was an act of ven- 
geance. In order to divert her from this thought, 
the Count of Artois related to her that one day the 
Duke of Berry, returning from the chase, and slowly 
ascending the mountain in the forest of Fontaine- 
bleau, noticed a man who seemed fatigued. The 
Prince summoned his huntsman, told him to take 
the man up behind the carriage and ask him if 
192 



THE WIDOW 193 



he were suffering and what was his name. " He is 
not sick,'* answered the huntsman, "he is only tired. 
His name is Louvel, and he works in the King's 
stables at Versailles, where he lives with his sister." 
On reaching the summit of the mountain, Louvel got 
down from the carriage, and no more was thought 
about him. 

After the lapse of several days, the Duchess of 
Berry left Saint Cloud and installed herself, with 
her little daughter, at the Tuileries, in the Pavilion 
of Marsan, close to her father-in-law. Her new 
apartment was not entirely strange to her. She had 
already slept there one night, at the time of her 
entry into Paris on the eve of her marriage at Notre 
Dame. How. happy she was then! What joyous 
rays were dispersed in all directions by the prism of 
hope! What a fairylike abode the Tuileries had 
seemed! What confidence in the future! What 
youth, enthusiasm, and gaiety! And in less than 
four years what a change! The 5'oung widow's 
apartment was like a mortuary chapel ; in accordance 
w^ith the mourning ceremonial of princesses the walls 
were draped in black. Mirrors, armchairs, sofas, 
footstools, all were covered with crape. None but 
yellow wax candles were lighted. The various 
objects of luxury resembled the ornaments of a cata- 
falque. The Princess had ordered a full-length por- 
trait of her husband from the painter Gerard, wishing 
to have it constantly before her eyes. 

The Parisians saw her on March 20 for the first 



194 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

time since the fatal day. She was taking a 'walk 
with her daughter on the terrace beside the water. 
The sight of her caused a profound impression. 
Women, holding their children in their arms, pointed 
out to them the widow of the assassinated Prince 
and the little orphan dressed all in white. Crowds 
would wait several hours together for the moment 
when the Princess would issue from the Tuileries, 
in order to salute her as she passed. It was sug- 
gested to her to go by the underground passages 
which formed a means of communication between 
the palace and the terrace bordering the water. " I 
will not," she replied; "they would think I am 
afraid." She was convinced that she had a mission, 
and that she bore the saviour of France in her womb. 
At the court she no longer appeared as a mournful 
widow, but as a sort of amazon, ready to brave all 
perils and defy all storms. In this most energetic 
of young women there was something virile which 
the French character takes delight in. Even the 
adversaries of the monarchy recognized in her the 
worthy daughter of Henri IV. 

At eleven in the evening, April 28, 1820, a 
petard, the match of which was already lighted, was 
flung under one of the wickets which separate the 
Place Carrousel from the rue Rivoli, opposite the rue 
Echelle. The explosion produced by it resembled 
that of a heavily loaded musket. When she heard 
it, the Duchess of Berry said with great coolness: 
'' They would like very well to frighten me, but they 



THE WIDOW 195 



will not succeed." The guard had taken up arms at 
the sound of the explosion, but the guilty person had 
escaped. 

Hoping that an alarm might bring about a miscar- 
riage for the Princess, the criminal renewed his 
attempt at the same place in the' night of May 6-7. 
But this time he was arrested just as he was light- 
ing a much larger fire-cracker. It was a former 
officer named Gravier, who had an accomplice named 
Bouton. 

Far from allowing herself to be intimidated by 
such menaces, the Duchess of Berry felt an intimate 
conviction that her delivery would be fortunate, and 
that the child would be a boy. She had had a 
dream, an account of which she wrote with her own 
hand in the following lines, which she sent to the 
Count of Brissac, and which have been preserved by 
his family : -^ 

" About the fourth month of my pregnancy, being 
asleep, I saw Saint Louis enter my room, just as he 
is painted, his crown on his head, his large royal 
mantle with the lilies, and his venerable face. I 
presented my little girl to him. He opened his 
mantle and presented me with the prettiest little 
boy. He took off his own crown and placed it on 
his head. 

"For my part, I kept pushing Louise forward; 
nevertheless, he persisted in keeping the crown on 
the boy's head, although he sheltered my daughter 
also under his mantle. Saint Louis then disap- 



196 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

pearecl with my two children, and I awoke, 'con- 
vinced from that time that I would have a boy, and 
since then not a single doubt on that head has 
occurred to me during the whole time of my preg- 

•^' "Maeie Caroline." 

To the young Princess whose Italian imagination 
was so easily impressed, this dream was more than a 
promise ; it was a certitude. She believed in it as if 
it had been an article of faith. As Monsieur said to 
her that perhaps it would be a daughter she would 
bring forth, she replied, "Saint Louis knows more 
than you do about that, father." 

Royalist society, so menaced and unsettled, which 
felt the earth trembling under its feet and dreaded 
volcanic explosions both in France and elsewhere, 
had no longer any hope save in an infant, in a 
cradle. Already people were comparing the child of 
the young Princess to Moses. Victor Hugo had 
composed, directly after the Duke of Berry's death, 
a poem entitled Mo'ise sur le Ml, which ended 
thus : — 

" Mortals, whose pride the Eternal disavows, 
Bow down : a cradle shall deliver Israel, 
A cradle is to save the world." 

All royalist France adored the woman who was to 
perpetuate the race of Bourbons. A religious senti- 
ment blended with the enthusiasm and tenderness 
she excited. One might have said that in her was 



THE WIDOW 197 



incarnated the cause of the altar and the throne. The 
calm and confidence she manifested contrasted with 
the revolutionary agitations and profound troubles 
which showed themselves everywhere else. Never, 
since the Revolution, had there been such turmoils 
in the streets of Paris. The discussion on the law 
of electoral reform which opened in the Chamber of 
Deputies, May 15, summed uj) anew the struggle 
between the liberals and the reactionists, and excited 
the wrath and the passions of the populace to the 
highest degree. 

General Lafayette said from the tribune : " Let no 
one oblige the generations, by threatening them with 
the loss of the fruits of the Revolution, to seize anew 
the sacred forces of the principles of eternal verity 
and sovereign justice." And M. de Serre, alluding 
to October 6, 1789, replied: "The honorable member 
must have experienced several times, he must have 
felt, with death in his soul and a blush on his fore- 
head, that, after having roused up the masses of 
the people, not merely is it not always possible to 
arrest them when they plunge into crime, but that 
one is often forced to follow them ; sometimes to lead 
them." Hostile groups and tumultuous gatherings 
collected in the approaches to the Palais Bourbon, 
where the Chamber was sitting. Officers of the 
guard in citizen's dress mingled with the crowd and 
shouted, "Long live the King!" in response to the 
cries of "Long live the Charter! " The armed force 
was obliged to intervene. In one of the collisions a 



198 THE DUCHESS OF BEERY 

student named Lallemand was shot and killed. ^ The 
populace cried out that it was intended to massacre 
them. On both sides the fury reached its height. 

June 4, M. Camille Jordan asked for a provisional 
suspension of the parliamentary debates. M. de 
Serre, after maintaining that the threatened riot was 
occasioned by nothing but the appeal to revolt made 
by the journals of the Left, reassured the Right by 
detailing the measures adopted for j^utting an end to 
the disturbances, and obtain a prolongation of the 
debate. Out of doors, the cavalry were charging on 
the crowd. A retired colonel named Duvergier led 
those manifestly disaffected as far as the Bastille, 
whence the stream of rioters, swelled by the popula- 
tion of the faubourgs, returned toward the Tuileries 
by the rue Saint-Antoine and the quays. Cuirassiers 
and gendarmes were sent to meet them and succeeded 
in dispersing them. Louis XVIII. could see from 
his palace windows the manoeuvres of the troops, the 
cavalry charges, the movements of the groups of 
curious spectators or rioters, flying before the gal- 
loping horses and the sabres of the soldiers. The 
cries of fright or fury from the crowd reached the 
ears of the Duchess of Berry and the Duchess of 
Angouleme. The daughter of Louis XVI. recalled 
the dismal scenes of 1792, — the 20th of June, the 
10th of August. 

The troubles continued the following day. Thou- 
sands of students, wearing white cravats, armed with 
heavy canes, and marching two and two, assembled on 



TnE WIDOW 199 



the quai d'Orsay, before the Chamber of Deputies. 
The gendarmes having repulsed them, they reassem- 
bled on Place Louis XV., where their ranks were 
swelled by a multitude of agitators and half-pay 
officers. From the terraces of the Tuileries, the 
windows of the Ministry of Marine and other hotels 
on Place Louis XV., numerous spectators were 
watching these popular scenes, which evoked the 
spectre of the great Revolution, with a curiosity 
mingled with anxiety. The mounted gendarmes 
and the dragoons of the guard charged. Voices were 
heard crying, " To the faubourgs ! " Some groups 
bearing a red flag attempted a diversion in the direc- 
tion of the Palais Royal. The crowd rushed into 
the rue Saint-Antoine to return upon the Hotel de 
Ville. But a regiment of cuirassiers, coming from 
the Arsenal, pursued them. A pelting rain pre- 
vented a collision, and the rioters withdrew. 

The situation was more menacing still the next 
day, June 6. It was the day when young Lallemand 
Avas buried, and the Chamber of Peers was about to 
pronounce its sentence against Louvel. The rioters 
were going in crowds through the boulevards toward 
the rue Saint-Antoine. Meantime, Louvel was read- 
ing before his judges this declaration, in which may 
be felt the ferocious hatred of the enemies of the 
Restoration, a regime which had at the same time 
enthusiastic admirers and fanatical detractors. 

" To-day I have to blush for a crime which I alone 
committed. I have the consolation of believing, in 



200 THE DUCHESS OF BEEBY 

dying, that I have dishonored neither my nation nor 
my family. Nothing need be seen in me but a 
Frenchman who vowed to sacrifice himself in order to 
destroy, in pursuit of his system, a part of the men 
who have taken up arms against his country. I am 
accused of having taken the life of a prince ; I alone 
am guilty; but among the men who compose the 
government there are many as guilty as I am. They 
have, according to me, recognized crimes as virtues ; 
the worst governments France has ever had have 
always punished the men who have betrayed it, or 
who have borne arms against the nation. 

" In my view, I cannot avoid believing that if the 
battle of Waterloo has been so fatal to France, it is 
because there were Frenchmen at Ghent who dis- 
seminated treason in the army and gave assistance 
to the enemy. 

" According to me and to my sj'stem, the death of 
Louis XVI. was necessary because the nation had 
consented to it. If it had been a handful of intrigu- 
ers who had gone to the Tuileries and taken his life 
on the moment, it would have been different; but as 
Louis XVI. and his family were under arrest for a 
long time, it is inconceivable that it should not have 
been by the consent of the nation. . . . To-day the 
Bourbons claim to be the masters ; but, according to 
me, they are criminals, and the nation would be dis- 
honored if it allowed itself to be governed by them." 
The Chamber of Peers listened with stupor to this 
coldly disdainful' language, and unanimously con- 
demned Louvel to death. 



THE WIDOW 201 



More favorable to the liberals than to the partisans 
of the Ministry, the Duchess Victor de Broglie, 
daughter of Madame de Stael, has thus described the 
sombre day of June 6, 1820 : " What a sight Paris 
presented at that time ! At the Chamber of Peers a 
criminal trial in progress, a man who was a sort of 
prodigy of crime and fatality, condemned that day to 
be executed on the morrow. A wretched victim 
stricken down by the royal guard. The entire hour- 
geois class in revolt, crying murder, and in dread for 
its children. All the young men in revolt. A 
furious Chamber; a slavish and hypocritical Minis- 
try. Inside the Tuileries that unhappy Duchess of 
Berry, beside herself, pursued by the thought that 
her husband's last will would not be respected; 
Madame listening to the cries of the populace that 
had caused her family to perish; indignation and pity 
swaying from one side to the other, from the victors 
to the vanquished, without anywhere finding a place 
to rest." 

The next day, June 7, the agitation in Paris con- 
tinued. At six in the evening, Louvel ascended the 
scaffold. An immense crowd covered the Place de 
Greve and its approaches. A large force of military 
had been put under arms. They say that up to the 
last moment the condemned man hoped to be rescued 
by the rioters. He looked and listened as if he were 
expecting a signal. When he saw that none was 
coming, he calmly mounted the steps of the guillo- 
tine; then his head fell beneath the knife. The 



202 THE DUCHESS OF BEE BY 

government finally quelled the disturbance -which 
had been grumbling for several days. The electo- 
ral laAv was passed, June 12, and the Chambers 
adjourned. 

Abroad, the revolutionary spirit was making 
gigantic strides. On the other side of the Pyrenees 
and the other side of the Alps all was aflame. The 
Bourbons of Spain and of Naples were threatened 
still more than the Bourbons of France. Pronuncia- 
mientos and popular risings brought the dynasties 
within a hair's-breadth of their ruin. Ferdinand 
VII., King of Spain, was obliged to take oath to the 
constitution of 1812, and he opened the revolution- 
ary Cortes, July 9. People said it was his 1789, the 
prelude to a 1793. Almost at the same moment 
General Pepe made his triumphal entry into Naples 
at the head of a revolted regiment. King Ferdinand 
I., grandfather of the Duchess of Berry, was obliged 
to resign his royal powers to her father, the heir- 
apparent, who proclaimed the Spanish Constitution 
of 1812, that ultra-liberal constitution of which, not- 
withstanding, not a single copy was to be found in 
the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. 

The rebound of the agitations in Spain and Italy 
made itself felt in France in the barracks and secret 
societies. In August some Bonapartist officers, act- 
ing in concert with the democrats and the direct- 
ing revolutionary committee, in which sat General 
Lafayette, organized a grand conspiracy. They had 
an understanding with many regiments, several 



THE WIDOW 203 



dwpiities, and numerous officers of all grades. Their 
aim was to seize tlie fort of Vincennes, the H6tel de 
Ville, and the Tuileries, to arrest the royal family, 
raise the tricolored flag, establish a provisional gov- 
ernment, and then make an appeal to the people, who 
would decide either for Napoleon II. or the Repub- 
lic. The conspirators had arranged to strike the blow 
during the night of August 19-20, 1820. But they 
were betrayed by some of their accomplices, and the 
military authorities, warned in due time, arrested 
the officers who were most compromised, and notably 
Colonel Fabvier, formerly aide-de-camp to Marshal 
Marmont. The government esteemed itself most 
happy to have escaped so grave a peril; it felt itself 
too weak to dare attempt to prosecute the deputies 
secretly affiliated to the conspiracy. 

The royalists told themselves that their saviour 
against such ambushes and dangers would be the 
child the Duchess of Berry bore in her womb. He 
was compared already, not merely to Moses, but to 
the Messias himself. Monarchical bombast treated 
the mother of such an impatiently awaited son as a 
supernatural being, a second Blessed Virgin. En- 
couraged by such protestations of devotion, the 
young Princess fancied that her little foot w^ould 
have small difficulty in stamping out the mon- 
sters. She believed in the prediction addressed 
to her by Victor Hugo, that poet who was then a 
courtier : — 



204 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

" Yet, of the royal stem, frail support, 
If God through thy aid show His majesty, 
Thou mayst save France, and once again make sport 
O' the hellish hydra's foul expectancy. 
Thus, when the serpent, author of all woe, 
Would thrust into the black abyss below 
Man, whom his sin had ruined. 
The Lord abased his sullen arrogance; 
A woman came, weak and without defence, 
Who bruised his cursed head." 



XXIII 

THE BIETH OF THE DUKE OF BOKDEAUX 

ALL royalist France was in commotion. The 
Duchess of Berry was nearing her time. The 
municipal councils of cities and the owners of castles 
had Masses said and novenas made to implore Heaven 
for her safe delivery. It had been decided that if 
she brought a prince into the world, he was to be 
styled the Duke of Bordeaux. Three market-women 
of that city, Mesdames Dast^, Duranton, and Aniche, 
were sent in deputation to the Tuileries to thank the 
King for the honor done to their city, and to offer 
a cradle intended for the expected child. " These 
dames," says Chateaubriand, "selected me to pre- 
sent them and their cradle to Madame the Duchess of 
Berry. I made haste to ask the gen tleman-in- wait- 
ing for a formal audience. But lo, M. de Seze 
thought that such an honor rightly belonged to him ; 
it was said that I would never succeed at court. 
I was not yet reconciled with the Ministry, and I did 
not seem worthy to act as introducer of my humble 
ambassadresses." When the cradle was presented, 
the three Bordelais entreated the Princess to lie in 
at Bordeaux, where she would be safer than in Paris. 

205 



206 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

Was it not just, moreover, that the young, duke 
should be born in the town whose name he was to 
bear? "This is to lay our prince in," said the 
market-women, pointing to the cradle. "We women 
will Avash his swaddling-clothes, and our men will 
take good care that the Jacobins do not prevent him 
from sleeping." 

Some one sent from B^arn the chanson of Jeanne 
d'Albret, of which the following is a translation : — 

" Our Lady of the end of the bridge, 
Assist me now. 
Pray God who is in heaven, 
That fie will graciously deliver me soon. 
That He will grant me a son. 
All even to the tops of the mountains implore it. 
Our Lady of the end of the bridge, 
Assist me now." 

To this was added a bottle of Juran9on wine and a 
clove of garlic, in memory of that which had been 
rubbed on the lips of Henri IV. as he was born. 

On September 28th, the dowager Duchess of 
Orleans, the widow of Philippe-Egalite, went over to 
the chapel of the Missionnaires and piously assisted 
at the Mass offered for the happy deliverance of the 
Duchess of Berry. 

The young Princess was calmly and courageously 
awaiting the solemn moment. Foreseeing the possi- 
bility that nature might be rebellious, she had said 
to the accoucheur, M. Deneux : " I know that in case 
of a dangerous delivery it is usual to save the 



THE BIBTII OF THE DUKE OF BOBBEAUX 207 

mother at the risk of losing the chikh I do not 
know whether Heaven has willed that my delivery 
shall be dangerous. However it may be, remember 
that the child I am bearing belongs to France ; in 
case of danger, do not hesitate to save him, even at 
the expense of my life." She proposed to be brought 
to bed in her salon. Over her head was to be the 
full-length portrait of the Duke of Berry, painted by 
Gerard, and before her eyes a picture by Kinson 
which represented her weeping, her daughter at her 
side, before the bust of her husband. 

Party spirit had at this time reached such a pitch 
of violence that many of the enemies of the Restora- 
tion obstinately refused to believe that the Princess 
was pregnant at all, and pretended that there was to 
be a supposititious child. Every precaution was 
taken to demonstrate the absurdity of such a cal- 
umny. As the time drew near, Louis XVIH. ap- 
pointed the Marshal Duke of Coigny and Marshal 
Suchet, Duke of Albufera, as witnesses, enjoining both 
of them to establish themselves at the Tuileries 
immediately, as well as the accoucheur and the doc- 
tors who formed part of the household of the Prin- 
cess. Marshal Marmont says in his Memoirs : — 

" The usual precautions had been taken to certify 
the birth of the child. They had been redoubled, so 
to say, by the choice of the individuals called to be 
witnesses. If only certain old nobles of the court, 
attached to the Bourbons, had been selected, their 
testimony might have been suspected; but one of 



208 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

them was Marshal Suchet, Duke of Albufera, wjio was 
above suspicion by reason of his origin and his alli- 
ance with the Bonapartes. Installed beforehand at 
the Tuileries, he was to be stationed in the chamber 
of Madame the Duchess of Berry at the moment 
when the child was to be born." 

September 28th, 1820, at nine in the evening, the 
King had said when giving the countersign, "I do 
not believe that Madame the Duchess of Berry will be 
delivered for five or six days yet." Let us listen to 
Madame de Gontaut, governess of the children of 
France : " I spent nearly all my days with the Duch- 
ess of Berry; but one evening (September 28th), 
having had company in our little salon, I had not seen 
her, and as she was suffering somewhat, she waited 
until the visitors had gone before coming to me. 
She owned to me then that she had felt slight pains 
during the evening. I informed her of all the precau- 
tions that had been taken ; I wanted to stay with her, 
but she said, ' Rest easy ; at the least indication you 
shall be notified.' She left me, and before going to 
bed I went softly to her chamber door ; all was quiet 
and reposing. I was doing the same when, in the 
middle of the night, Madame de Vathaire, first cham- 
bermaid to Madame, Avho occupied a chamber close 
to hers with Madame Bourgeois, another of her 
women, and kept the door of communication habitu- 
ally open, arrived at mine. Finding it locked, she 
knocked repeatedly, and called me in a loud voice, 
saying, ' Come quick, quick ! Madame is delivered. 



THE BIRTH OF THE DUKE OF BORDEAUX 209 

Send the guard. Hurry up ! I gave the order to 
go to Madame Lemoine, whom I told last evening 
to be ready in case she was called: she ran there 
at once.' 

"Already prepared to rise at the least signal, I 
merely took time enough to slip on a dressing-gown. 
I arrived near Madame. As soon as she saw me, 
she held out her arms to me and exclaimed, ' It is 
Henri I ' We embraced each other with one of those 
joyful cries that come but once in a lifetime. 

" The infant was crying, and I examined it ; it 
seemed to me strong and well. The nurse said to 
me, ' The child is doing well ; he can stay just so for 
some instants.' Madame then exclaimed, ' Quick ! 
quick ! the witnesses ! ' My valet de chambre had 
followed me in this moment of confusion. I said, 
' Here is one.' — ' He will not answer,' replied 
Madame, 'as he is in your pay.' But she gave 
orders to light up everything and everywhere. 

"Madame de Yathaire had already gone to look 
for the accoucheur, the Faculty, and to wake up every- 
body. I went across a passage which led to the ves- 
tibule of the court. Two sentries were at the door, 
one belonging to the royal guard and the other to the 
National Guard ; I called them and bade them follow 
me ; they hesitated, and talked of their instructions. 
' Come,' 1 said to them, ' and save him who will one 
day be your king.' They did not comprehend me, 
but at this name of king, and encouraged by a ser- 
geant, they followed me ; the sergeant himself joined 



210 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

US (his name was Dauphinot). To make sure of them, 
I held them securely by the arms. 

"At this moment the Duchess of Reggio, who had 
been notified, was coming down-stairs. She saw me 
in a dressing-gown flying open, a short petticoat, and 
black stockings, dragging along these two men, 
astounded but submissive. She assured me, laughing, 
that she should never forget it as long as she lived. 
I made them enter the narrow little corridor, which 
we got through with difficulty. On arriving near 
Madame, they were the first witnesses ; then I put 
them in a corner of the room and kept my eye on 
them." 

The infant was not yet separated from its mother. 
When the accoucheur came in, the Princess said to 
him, " Monsieur Deneux, we have a prince ; I am 
well ; don't concern yourself about me, but take care 
of my child; is there no danger in leaving him in 
that condition ? " The accoucheur replied, " The 
child is very strong, he breathes freely, and he is so 
well that he may remain just so until the delivery, 
even though that should not happen for an hour." — 
"In that case," said the courageous mother, "let him 
be. I want to have him seen still attached to me. I 
want people to see that he is really mine." 

It was then thirty-five minutes past two in the 
morning. Three National Guards, MM. Lain^, a 
grocer, Paign^, a druggist, and Dauphinot, an em- 
ploy^, all belonging to the Ninth Legion, and M. 
d'Hardivilliers, captain of the grenadiers of the royal 



THE BIBTII OF THE DUKE OF BOBBEAUX 211 

guard, were in the chamber. " Gentlemen," said the 
Princess to them, "you are witnesses that it is a 
prince. See, he is not yet separated from his 
mother." She repeated the same phrase to the Mar- 
shal Duke of Albufera, who came a few minutes 
later, and it was not until he had seen with his own 
eyes what the Princess said, that the umbilical cord 
was cut. 

Concerning this, Marshal Marmont has said in his 
Memoirs : " The Duchess of Berry objected to have 
the cord cut before the arrival of the official witnesses, 
an act of courage and presence of mind which merits 
universal admiration. Some silly Parisian w^omen 
have criticised this conduct on the ground of modesty. 
Miserable objection ! Before the interests of a dy- 
nasty and the repose of a nation such considerations 
should disappear; and the Duchess of Berry rose to 
the level of circumstances. She was sublime. On 
the whole, she has great courage, great moral force, 
and a great instinct for government. If fortune had 
placed her in more favorable circumstances, it is 
probable that she would have succeeded in her enter- 
prises and made herself a great name." 

Meanwhile the King and the royal family had 
arrived. " God be thanked ! " exclaimed Louis 
XYIIL, " you have a son." And he handed a mag- 
nificent spray of diamonds to the mother, saying, 
" This is for you, and that is for me." As he spoke, 
he took the newborn child in his arms ; then, calling 
for the clove of garlic and the bottle of Juran^on 



212 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRT 

wine, he rubbed the infant's lips with the oiie and 
moistened its mouth with a few drops of the other. 
" Sire," said the Princess, " I wish I knew the air of 
Jeanne d'Albret's chanson, so that everything might 
be just as it was at the birth of Henri IV." 

Learning that the marshals, generals, etc., were 
asking to be admitted to the presence of the newly 
born, the Viscountess de Gontaut carried him into 
the grand salon. "The Duke of Orleans came at 
last," says she in her Memoirs ; " he looked atten- 
tively at the Duke of Bordeaux, and then said to the 
Duke of Albufera, ' Monsieur the Marshal, I summon 
you to declare what you have seen. Is this child 
really the son of the Duchess of Berry?' I confess 
I had a moment of great impatience. ' Speak, Mon- 
sieur the Marshal,' I cried; 'tell all that you have 
seen ! ' The Marshal energetically testified to the 
legitimacy of the child, and added, ' I swear it on my 
honor ! I am surer that the Duke of Bordeaux, here 
present, is the child of Madame the Duchess of 
Berry than I am that my own son is the child of his 
mother.' Silence ensued. After such incontestable 
proof, the Duke of Orleans departed to offer his feli- 
citations to Madame the Duchess of Berry." 

At half-past three in the morning, Mgr. de Born- 
belles, Bishop of Amiens, administered private bap- 
tism to the little Prince, and M. Dambray, Chancellor 
of France, fulfilling the functions of registrar to the 
royal household, wrote the certificate of birth. 

Outside of the palace the house of the body-guards 



THE BIB Til OF THE DUKE OF BOB BEAUX 213 

and the barracks of the royal guard were suddenly 
illumined as if by magic. 

Five o'clock in the morning. The cannon of the 
Invalides began to thunder. Several persons had 
advised that these bronze messengers should Avait 
for daybreak before speaking, but the Duke of Riche- 
lieu responded, — 

" For such a piece of news it is daybreak at any 
hour." 

The Parisian population, suddenly awakened, anx- 
iously count the discharges. Twelve were to be fired 
if it were a princess, twenty-four if it were a prince. 
At the thirteenth there is an explosion of joy. The 
royalists rise and hasten in crowds underneath the 
windows of the Pavilion of Marsan, where the Duch- 
ess has just been delivered, on the first story, looking 
down the rue Rivoli. 

Six o'clock in the morning. The Duchess of Berry 
orders that all the military who present themselves 
shall be admitted. Ofiicers, subalterns, and soldiers, 
more than five hundred, file in. " I bless thee," says 
an old Yendean, looking at the little Prince, " and I 
enlist for six years longer." A soldier with three 
chevrons exclaims, " Ah, my Prince, why am I so 
old? I cannot serve under your orders." — "Keep 
up your heart, my hero," says the Princess ; " he will 
begin early." Another soldier cries, " He is surely 
the child of the army, that fellow. He is born in the 
midst of cannonading and grenadiers' caps, and my 
captain is his first nurse." 



214 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

The crowd constantly grows larger in the rue 
Rivoli,, under the windows of the Princess's apart- 
ment. Enthusiastic acclamations resound. People 
who are unknown to each other carry on long con- 
versations. Everybody is inquiring for news. They 
hope to get a glimpse of the little Prince. At the 
same time the churches are thronged by the faithful 
who come to return thanks to God. 

Ten o'clock. The marshals, generals, and great 
officials are admitted to the King's cabinet. The 
Duke of La Chatre presents a young poet, M. 
Mennechet, who reads the following impromptu 
verses set to the air of the Premier Pas^ on which 
the King and the Duchess of Angouleme congratu- 
late him : — 

" France, 'tis a Bourbon has been born to thee I 
'Tis of thy kings august the late-born son ! 
And from his cradle this weak child shall be 
The traitor's terror and the brave man's glee. 
'Tis a Bourbon. 

" It is a Bourbon whom thy tears besought : 

Heaven heard and the auspicious gift sent down ; 
The glory of thy arms sustain shall he, 
And dry the tears of helpless misery. 
'Tis a Bourbon. 

" It is a Bourbon, happy mother ; leave 

Thy sadness, and thy widow's weeds lay down. 
It is a husband rises from the tomb, 
This noble child restores him to his home. 
'Tis a Bourbon." 



THE BIRTH OF THE DUKE OF BORDEAUX 215 

Noon. A Mass of thanksgiving and the Te Deum 
in the chapel of Tuileries. Louis XVIII. and all the 
royal family are present at it. 

One o'clock. On returning from Mass, the King 
stops on the balcony of the Pavilion of the Horloge. 
Addressing the crowd that fills the garden, he says 
in a strong voice : " My friends, your joy increases 
mine a hundredfold. A child is born to all of us. 
This child will one day become your father ; he will 
love you as I do, and as you love all who belong 
to me." 

Two o'clock. Monsieur receives the officers of 
the Duke of Berry's household. With the King's 
permission, he had said to them on the day of the 
murder, "If my daughter-in-law brings forth a son, 
you will all resume towards him the same functions 
you fulfilled toward his father." The hour has come 
for the realization of this promise. " My friends," 
says Monsieur, "I announce to you with pleasure 
that you are in the service of the Duke of Bordeaux ; 
I am very sure that you will be as tenderly attached 
to the son as you were to the father." 

The household of the little Prince was constituted 
thus : governess, the Viscountess of Gontaut ; under- 
governess, the Marchioness of Foresta; first gentle- 
man of the chamber, the Count of Nantouillet ; gen- 
tlemen of honor and aides-de-camp, the Prince of Leon, 
the Count of Brissac, the Viscount of Montl^gier ; 
aides-de-camp, the Count of Mesnard, the Count of 
Clermont-Lod^ve, the Count of Choiseul, Count 



216 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

Eugene d'Astorg, the Prince of Bauffremonl, the 
Marquis of Coligny, the Count of Mailly. 

All Paris spends the entire day in jollity. They 
sing, they dance farandoles. They hum a refrain 
like this in the streets : — 

" It is a boy ! I in my happiness 

Counted twice twelve discharges of the guns. 
All Paris is in motion; each one runs, 
Yet each the other stops, to say with joy, 
It is a boy! 

" It is a boy 1 Aiid if he wear the crown, 
We'll see him worthy of so great a name. 
Noble and generous his soul will be, 
And to no man will he desire annoy. 
It is a boy ! " 

The rue Rivoli, opposite the Pavilion of Marsan, is 
constantly thronged by an immense and enthusiastic 
crowd. It is with difficulty that the Duchess of 
Berry is prevented from rising in order to show her- 
self standing with her infant in her arms. They 
want to give her a composing draught to quiet her. 
" Let it alone," saj^s she, and, listening to the clamor 
of the populace : "that is the real sedative." 

Evening has come. The promenaders are innumer- 
able. The weather is magnificent. The stars rival 
the illuminations. The garrison of Paris, having 
obtained the honor of offering the 5^oung mother a 
luminous bouquet, the troops assemble beneath her 
windows. The bouquet is composed of a great many 






THE BIBTR OF THE DUKE OF BORDEAUX 217 

rockets which explode at a given signah The noise 
is prodigious and the effect splendid. The Princess 
is ravished with delight. She has her windows 
opened and her bed drawn close up to them in order 
to see and be seen. She applauds with childish 
joy. The soldiers who can perceive her admire her 
animation and her courage, and they are heard 
exclaiming, " She is worthy to be the mother of a 
king." 

The theatres are livelier than ever. At the Opera, 
Atlialie is given with the choruses, and in the work 
of Racine the public find allusions to the newly born, 
who is already called the child of miracle, which 
raise their enthusiasm to its highest pitch. After the 
tragedy, M. Mennechet's verses, C'est un Bourbon, 
are sung. At the Feydeau theatre the entire audi- 
ence join in the air, Vive Henri IV. At the Vari- 
etes a rondo is sung alluding to the twenty-four 
volleys of cannon fired in the morning. At the 
Gaite, a plump and fresh-looking nurse arrives at the 
close of the Fanfan la Tulipe, and furnishes the occa- 
sion for a very joyous entertainment. 

To sum up, the 29th of September was but one 
continual ovation for the Duchess of Berry. Af1?er 
so much emotion and so much happiness, the valiant 
mother needed repose. But listen to Madame de 
Gontaut : — 

" After the evening reception Madame was tired ; 
the Faculty interposed and ordered absolute quiet; 
she consented to it on condition that she might have 



218 THE DUCHESS OF BEEBY 

her cliildren near her. I had the two cradles and 
my bed set up in the gallery. Madame Lemoine not 
only took care of Monseigneur, but acted as nui-se to 
Madame. This citizen-like simplicity pleased her. 
On this first night, Madame, who was very uneasy, 
often summoned her nurse ; at such times I remained 
alone in that badly lighted gallery, still hung with 
black, where everything was dismal and the image of 
a tomb. — Poor, fatherless infant, I said to myself; a 
prey to the moBt frightful attempts even before his 
birth (for that of Gravier was fresh in my remem- 
brance) I — Oh, how fervent were the prayers I 
addressed to Heaven ! I shall never forget that first 
night. When day began to break, it seemed to me 
that I gained more confidence ; the name the Nuncio 
had given to the Prince recurred to my mind. No, 
said I ; God does not work a miracle without an end 



XXIV 



THE EEJOICINGS 



THE newly born had received the Christian names 
of Henri Charles Ferdinand Dieudonnd (God- 
given) : the first in memory of the most popular of 
his ancestors ; the second, in memory of his father, 
the Duke of Berry ; the third, on account of his great- 
grandfather and sponsor. King Ferdinand of the Two 
Sicilies; and the fourth, in allusion to Heaven, to 
whom thanks were offered for the birth of an heir to 
so many kings. As to his title of Duke of Bordeaux, 
this was a recompense granted to the city which 
boasted of having been the first to proclaim the Bour- 
bon Restoration, in 1814. The young Prince was 
born on September 29, 1820, feast of Saint Michael 
the Archangel, one of the protectors of France. The 
courtiers never stopped saying that this was a presage 
of good fortune, a proof of the divine favor. Cha- 
teaubriand has made this remark : " When Henri 
was born, on Saint Michael's Day, did not people say 
that the archangel was going to put the dragon under 
his feet ? It is to be feared, on the contrary, that the 
flaming sword was only drawn from the scabbard to 

219 



220 THE DUCHESS OF BEBEY 

banish the innocent from the terrestrial paradise, and 
to guard its doors against him." 

Meanwhile the joy of the royalists rose to delirium. 
They triumphed noisily and proudly. One of their 
journals termed the little Prince the Messias of legiti- 
macy. Another said one would have to be an atheist 
not to see the finger of God in his birth. Those were 
held up to public indignation " whose criminal silence 
and guilty reticence disclosed odious sentiments." The 
following appeared in the Debafs : " Young infant, 
object of so much love and so many prayers, in the 
midst of political storms you appear to us as a star 
appears as the last sign of hope to the mariner beaten 
by the tempest. May the efforts of honest men rally 
around your cradle i May all the efforts of the wicked 
come to naught against that sacred cradle ! Grow 
up to imitate the virtues of the noble family that 
surrounds you ! GroAv up to console a mother who 
conceived you in sadness ! Grow up to render happy 
a people who received you with so much joy ! " 

Although the birth of a posthumous child is in 
nowise a miraculous event, people persisted in calling 
the Duke of Bordeaux the child of miracle. The 
address of the National Guard of Paris Avas thus 
expressed : — 

" The happiness of the King is that of France ; our 
hearts have no words whereby to express the senti- 
ment wdiich transports us. Sire, you have in us sub- 
jects faithful to their King, children who will cherish 
a father, and soldiers ready to shed their blood for 



THE REJOICINGS 221 



the defence of the throne. The child of miracle is a 
certain pledge of the altogether special mercy which 
watches over France. Your enemies, Sire, are those 
of the human species ; the Duke of Bordeaux, worthy 
scion of so many kings, has vanquished them on the 
day of his birth. May the love of the French people 
efface the tears which cruel souvenirs mingle with so 
much joy ! " 

Royalist gladness manifested itself in popular 
demonstrations. On Sunday, October 1, at eleven 
o'clock in the morning, the market porters and the 
charcoal men of Paris, all dressed in new clothes, 
executed several dances in front of the Duchess of 
Berry's windows. They hurrahed for the Princess, 
who, having had her bed drawn near a window, 
showed them her son, whom she held in her arms. 
Then she ordered that the doors of her apartments 
shoujd be thrown open to them, and all, entering by 
twos, contemplated the mother and the child. 

October 3, there were public fetes and rejoicings, 
a Te Deum at Notre Dame, a free distribution of 
eatables, and a hundred barrels of wine in the 
Champs Elysees, balls and spectacles on the Square 
Marigny, fireworks and general illuminations. 

On the same day, after the Mass in the chapel of 
the Tuileries, the diplomatic corps having presented 
its homage to the King and the Duke of Bordeaux, 
Monseigneur Machi, the Papal Nuncio, spoke as fol- 
lows : " Sire, the diplomatic corps comes to join its 
felicitations to those of all France for the great bene- 



222 THE DUCHESS OF BEE BY 

fit which a most favorable Providence has deigned 
to grant to the paternal tenderness of Your Majesty. 
This child of sorrows, of souvenirs, and regrets, is also 
the child of Europe ; he is the herald and the guar- 
antee of the peace and repose which must follow so 
many agitations." 

Louis XVIII. responded : '* Never have I received 
with so much satisfaction the congratulations of the 
diplomatic corps. I am j)ersuaded that your sov- 
ereigns share the joy that fills mj heart; it is all 
the more vivid because I behold in this great event 
the most signal benefit of Providence, and the pledge 
of the repose which He will at last deign to bestow 
upon the world. I recommend this dear child to the 
prayers of the Holy Father, to those of the whole 
Church, and to the friendship of all sovereigns." 

Popular festivities continued. In virtue of a reso- 
lution taken, October 2, by the municipal council, 
the prefect of the Seine had been invited to assemble 
at banquets the market-women, the corporation of 
market-porters, and also that of the charcoal-burners. 
The banquets took place on Sunday, October 8, that 
of the "Ladies of tlie market" at the market of 
Blanc s-Manteaux^ those of " Messieurs the porters of 
the markets and the wharves " in the premises of the 
storage granaries, boulevard of the Arsenal, and that 
of " Messieurs the charcoal-burners " at the Saint- 
Martin market. The honors of each table were done by 
the mayors of Paris, and a ball follovv^ed each banquet. 

At this time the Duchess of Berry excited uni- 



THE REJOICINGS 223 



versal enthusiasm. A witty woman said, " The 
Duchess of Berry has brought forth not only the 
Duke of Bordeaux, but a great number of royalists 
also." Never has there been a princess more the 
fashion in the salons or more popular with the 
masses. The letter by which she obtained pardon 
for Bouton and Gravier, who had been condemned 
to death for attempts against her person, received 
unanimous praise. This beautiful and generous let- 
ter is thus expressed : — 

" Sire : As I cannot see the King to-day, I write 
to him to ask pardon for two unfortunate men who 
were condemned to death yesterday for an attempt 
against my person. I should be in despair if there 
were Frenchmen who must die for me. The angel 
whom I mourn asked pardon as he was dying for 
his murderer; he shall be the arbiter of my life. 
Will you permit me, uncle, to imitate him, and to 
implore Your Majesty to grant the favor of life to 
these two unfortunates? The King's august ex- 
ample has accustomed us to clemency. Will he 
deign to permit that the first instants of the exist- 
ence of my Henri, my dear son, be marked by a 
pardon ? Excuse, my dear uncle, the liberty I dare 
take of opening my heart to you; on all occasions 
your indulgent goodness has encouraged me. I sup- 
plicate the King to excuse my boldness, and to 
believe in the respect, as profound as the sentiments 
with which I am, of Your Majesty, the most humble 
and most obedient and most submissive niece. 

" Caroline." 



224 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

The royalists, satisfied with the present and -look- 
ing tranquilly towards the future, thought them- 
selves in possession of the promised land. To read 
their journals, one would think that the age of gold 
had returned to earth. They published sentimental 
anecdotes like the story of old Huet, a man of a hun- 
dred and sixteen years, who had been born in the 
corps to which his father belonged towards the close 
of the reign of Louis XIV. Having been received 
by the Duchess of Berry, he blessed the little Prince, 
saying, '^ I have the happiness to see the sixth gen- 
eration of the Bourbons." A glass of the Jurangon 
wine with which the lips of the Duke of Bordeaux 
had been moistened at his birth was poured out for 
the good old man, and a gold medal given him, rep- 
resenting France and the Prince, with this motto : 
" Frenchmen, I give him to you ; swear to defend 
him." 

Felicitations, addresses, protestations of devotion, 
arrived from every corner of the realm. Balls, re- 
joicings, and entertainments were given everywhere. 
The King distributed thirty-four ribbons of the 
Order of the Holy Ghost. MM. Decazes, Pasquier, 
Laine, de Serre, Dessoles, Marshals Moncey, Victor, 
Macdonald, Oudinot, Marmont, and Suchet figured 
in the promotion, beside Prince Talleyrand, the Dukes 
of Luxembourg, de Gramont, de Levis, de Mouchy, 
de Montmorency, the Abbe de Montesquieu, and Car- 
dinals de Beausset and de La Luzerne. 

We read in the Moniteur of October 22 : — 



THE BEJOICINGS 225 



"After the audience with the King, the whole 
diplomatic corps were introduced into the apartments 
of S. A. R. the Duchess of Berry, who was on a couch 
placed beneath the full-length portrait of the spouse 
whom she daily mourns. On her knees lay the son, 
the successor of so many illustrious monarchs ; in a 
word, the new Henri whom Heaven has given to be 
the consolation of his heroic mother and the hope of 
the country. Her entire household, ranged around 
her, shared her doleful situation ; tears were in every 
eye. But in the midst of this general affliction the 
Princess pressed to her bosom, with tender affection, 
the gift she has received from Heaven, while her 
august daughter seemed, by her grace and that ex- 
pression of kindliness which belongs to her family, 
to be saying to those who were present, ' Love me ; I 
shall merit it some day, like all my relatives.' 

" It was under these circumstances that the Nuncio 
Apostolic addressed the following discourse to her in 
the name of the diplomatic body : — 

" ' Madame, Heaven has deigned to accord Your 
Royal Highness the greatest of all consolations. This 
precious infant, who makes the happiness of France 
and staunches so many tears, is a recompense of the 
eminent virtues which honor Your Royal Highness, 
and of the truly heroic courage which distinguishes 
you. The diplomatic corps, overwhelmed with joy, 
has the honor to present the homage of its felicitations 
to the august mother, and to offer the most ardent 
prayers for the preservation of a prince who is the 
object of so many hopes and so many interests.' 



226 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

" A new Jeanne d'Albret, the angust Prineess re- 
plied, witli as much greatness of soul as nobility : ' I 
thank the sovereigns for the sentiments you have just 
expressed. I am proud of the title you have given 
to my son, of Child of Europe. Accept also my 
thanks for your participation in my sorrows.' " 

The Emperor Alexander had written to Louis 
XVIII. : — 

" The birth of the Duke of Bordeaux is an event 
which I regard as very auspicious for peace, and which 
conveys just consolation to the bosom of your family. 
I beg Your Majesty to believe that I ratify the title 
of Child of Europe wdth which Monseigneur the 
Duke of Bordeaux has been saluted." 

Naturally, the poets joined the party. Victor Hugo 
wrote a dithyramb in honor of the young Prince, in 
the month of October, 1820. Lamartine's enthu- 
siasm was not less lyrical. Alas ! there was nothing 
new in these adulations ; read the Moniteur of 1811, 
and you will find just such lyrics and hyperboles con- 
cerning the King of Rome and the Empress Marie 
Louise. Casimir Delavigne, essaying his adolescent 
muse, had saluted the heir of the Empire as a " child 
dear to Heaven, awaited by earth, promised to pos- 
terity." M. Lemaire, a professor known by his 
talent for Latin verse, had carried his enthusiasm so 
far as to compare Marie Louise to another Marie, 
this other being the Blessed Virgin. One of these 
two sovereigns, he said, reigns in heaven, the other 
on earth, — 

" Hcec ccelo regina micat ; micat altera ten-is." 



THE REJOICINGS 227 



Among the courtiers now weeping with joy before 
the cradle of the Duke of Bordeaux were many men 
who, nine years before, had been shedding enthusi- 
astic tears before the cradle of the King of Rome, 
and who, eighteen years later, would display the 
same emotion before the cradle of the Count of 
Paris. Strange epoch, bizarre commingling of oppos- 
ing ideas and principles ! How many retractations 
among the prose-writers and the poets ! One of the 
two bards who sang with Biblical emotion the birth 
of the child of miracle became the founder of the 
Second Republic, and the other has had a burial 
without religious rites. What would these enthusi- 
astic defenders of the throne and the altar, these 
mystical poets to whom royalty was a dogma, a 
divine right, have said had the vicissitudes in their 
opinions and their career been predicted to them ? 

However, even in 1820, there was more than one 
discordant note in the concert of adulations going on 
around a cradle. M. de Lally wrote to the Duke 
Decazes the following letter, in which Orleanist ten- 
dencies are already perceptible : — 

" When I say to you that I have been pleased with 
this birth chiefly on the King's account, it is because 
I am daily more inclined to doubt whether it is the 
combination most desirable for France, for the mon- 
archy, and for this dynasty which is so dear to us ; 
whether the birth of a Princess who might have been 
affianced in her cradle to that admirably trained 
Prince " (the Duke of Chartres, then ten years old) 



228 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

" would not have been more propitious to the^e great ^ 
interests, more calculated to settle minds, to consoli- 
date the Charter, to dissipate gloom, and to make ] 
conciliation necessary. The turn affairs are taking ■ 
gives room to fear lest new discords may issue from 
this cradle which was to be the ark of the covenant 
and the symbol of reunion." It seems that when he 
heard the cannon that announced the birth of the 
child so impatiently expected, the Duke of Welling- 
ton exclaimed, " There is the death-knell of legiti- 
macy ! " At bottom, France was wavering betwixt 
opposing sentiments. The Duchess Victor de Broglie 
wrote, October 18, 1820 : " The birth of the Duke of 
Bordeaux has given the Bourbons a momentary pop- 
ularity ; the people are really delighted. No one can 
say whether they are loved or hated, so fluctuating 
and uncertain is opinion." Who could be surprised 
at the scepticism of people who had witnessed so 
many metamorphoses? They believed in nothing, 
especially not in themselves. 



XXV 



CHAMBORD 



THREE leagues from the Loire, on the banks of 
the Cosson, near the waste lands of Sologne, 
rises one of the most beautiful and picturesque 
castles in the Avorld, the marvellous and fantastic 
Chambord. It is an immense feudal manor, flanked 
by four enormous toAvers, each sixty feet in diameter. 
In its architecture the Moorish and Gothic styles are 
united with exquisite elegance. What historian, 
what artist, what man of taste, could contemplate 
this mao^nificent efflorescence of art without emotion ? 
The best view of it is obtained from the middle of 
the esplanade that se2:)arates it from the ruin. 
There all can be seen at once, — the towers, the 
pavilions, the chimneys, the terraces, the arcaded 
galleries, the myriads of bell turrets and caryatides, 
and the cupola which crowns the celebrated staircase 
where two flights of steps, crossing each other, turn 
around the same spiral of stone in such a manner that 
two visitors might ascend to the very top at the same 
time Avithout meeting each other. At every one of 
its four landings, four immense halls in the form of a 
Greek cross surround this superb stairway with its 

229 



230 THE DUCHESS OF BEBEY 

wide and easily ascended steps. Victor Hugo has 
described it as " beautiful as a palace of fairies and 
grand as a palace of kings." From the balconies, 
which surmount the roof of the castle, the eye 
reaches to an immense distance, and takes in Blois, 
Beaugency, Orleans, the flat plains of Sologne and 
the smiling valley of the Loire. 

Coppices, heather, woods, meadows, lakes, make 
up the vast park, seven leagues in extent, and sur- 
rounded by walls. It is inhabited by a rural popula- 
tion who form a commune. When the park gates 
are closed in the evening, the commune, with its 
municipal council and its town hall, are literally 
under lock and key. 

A swarm of historical souvenirs gather round this 
legendary castle. Chambord was originally owned 
by the Counts of Blois, belonging to the family of 
Champagne, but it was then merely a rendezvous 
for huntsmen. At the end of the fourteenth century 
it came into the possession of the Orleans family. A 
century later, Louis of Orleans having become King 
of France under the title of Louis XII., Chambord 
became crown property. Its splendor dates from 
Francis I. On his return from captivity in Madi-id, 
the most artistic sovereign who has ever reigned in 
France ordered the construction of the existing 
castle. Louis XIV. sojourned there nine times. 
Two of Moliere's plays were given there for the first 
time. Monsieur de Pourceaugnac in 1669, and Le 
Bourgeois G-entilhomme in 1670. The ex-King of 



CHAMBOED 231 



Poland, Stanislas Leszinski, the father-in-law of 
Louis XV., took up his residence at Chambord, and 
built the delightful chapel which is still called the 
chapel of the Queen of Poland. Maurice de Saxe 
Avas endowed with Chambord after the peace of Aix 
la Chapelle. The victor of Fontenoy caused two 
barracks to be constructed beside the castle for his 
two regiments of uhlans. The Ukraine horses, left 
free in the park, ran up of their own accord at the 
hour of drill, when the trumpets gave the signal 
from the terraces. 

Under the Revolution, Chambord having become 
national property, the interior of the chapel was 
mutilated and defaced. The furniture, which was 
of royal magnificence, disappeared. It was sold at 
auction to the second-hand furniture-dealers of the 
neighborhood, who carried off everything, even to 
the chimney-pieces. The beautiful Arras and Gobelin 
tapestries, which decorated the apartments of Francis 
L, were burned for the sake of the small quantity 
of gold and silver they contained. 

At the time the Legion of Honor was instituted, 
Chambord became the headquarters of the 15th 
cohort, and was comprised in the property set apart 
as its endowment. In 1809 it became, for the benefit 
of Marshal Berthier, the seat of the principality of 
Wagram, with an annual allotment of five hundred 
thousand francs. After the fall of Napoleon this 
allotment was suppressed. Marshal Berthier's widow 
was no longer able to keep up the expenses of so 



232 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

large a domain, and by a decree dated Aiigust 
31, 1819, she was permitted to sell the castle of 
Chambord. 

The exterior of the edifice was still superb; but 
the interior presented an appearance of complete 
dilapidation. Kuined by the rains which filtered 
through the soft stone of the roofs from which the 
lead had been stripped, the apartments were but the 
shadow of their former selves. The four hundred 
and forty rooms of which the French Alhambra was 
composed were entirely bare. Of Maurice de Saxe's 
bedchamber nothing remained but the ruins of the 
gallery which had surrounded the platform on which 
his bed had stood. The altar and the pictures had 
disappeared from the Queen of Poland's chapel, and 
nothing indicated that it had been a holy place. 
The roofs were everywhere sinking in, the balconies 
were cracked, the ceilings and floors destroyed, the 
parquetry broken by the fall of joists and timbers. 
The doors and windows, without panels, shutters, or 
panes, left the apartments exposed to all the inclem- 
ency of the weather. The fine barracks which Mar- 
shal de Saxe had constructed in the park, near the 
chateau, were falling into ruins. 

This was the time when the Black Band, that 
society of iconoclasts, attacked all the castles and 
razed to the ground the most admirable monuments 
of the past as a matter of speculation. Royalist 
societ}^, instead of combining against this work of 
destruction, remained inert, and even the King him- 



CHAMBOBD 233 



self never thought of saving such a marvel as Cham- 
borcl. The castle so dear to Francis I. was about to 
disappear like an ordinary house. The pickaxe of 
the demolisher was getting ready to sack and tear 
down without pity the masterpiece of sixteenth cen- 
tury architecture. A part of the old trees in the 
park were already cut down. The day for selling 
the domain at auction was already fixed. The purest 
gem of the Renaissance was to be sold by weight. 
The Black Band w^as about to fall upon its prey, 
when, by mere chance, a conversation which caused 
the redemption of Chambord took place between 
Count Adrien de Calonne, quartermaster of the 
King's cavalry, and General Baron Du Casse, com- 
mandant of the department of the Somme. M. de 
Calonne, on returning from a journey in the west, 
had just visited the castle, and described to General 
Du Casse the deplorable condition of that magnificent 
edifice. 

"But, my dear Calonne," exclaimed the general, 
" you must put a stop to this act of vandalism." 

" How can I do that, general ? " 

" I will tell you ; it occurred to me while T was 
listening to you. You must open a subscription to buy 
Chambord and present it to the Duke of Bordeaux." 

" That is an excellent idea, general, I admit ; but 
why not put it into execution yourself? " 

" No ; I can't do it ; it would seem as if I were an 
ambitious soldier who wanted to advance himself 
with money belonging to the public. I might be ac- 



234 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

cused of having ransomed Cliambord and bougkt my 
epaulettes as lieutenant-general at one stroke. . . . You 
are evidently the right man ; don't shrink from it." 

M. de Calonne allowed himself to be persuaded, 
and became the promoter of the subscription. 

At first the idea v^as not welcomed by either Louis 
XVIII. or his ministers. But at this period a great 
part of France was more royalist than the King, and 
M. de Calonne's proposition was cordially approved 
in the departments and at Paris. Caen was the first 
city which gave in its adhesion. Its municipal coun- 
cil voted an address, October 11, 1820, in which it 
was said : — 

" Sire, Your Majesty has deigned to accept from 
certain respectable but not rich mothers of one of 
your cities (the market-women of Bordeaux) the 
cradle of the heir to so many kings. Why should 
not the whole country be permitted to redeem for a 
son of France the fields of his fathers, the manor 
where his ancestors reposed, the noble asylum of the 
victor of Fontenoy, and thus, with the aid of the fine 
arts, to found a magnificent monument of love ? For, 
Sire, to preserve is to build up." 

The movement spread so rapidly in every commune 
of the realm that Count Simeon, Minister of the 
Interior, who at first looked unfavorably at the 
scheme, soon recommended the King to approve it. 
In a report dated December 20, 1820, he wrote : — 

" How cold one would seem in the midst of uni- 
versal gladness, if, under pretext of economy, one 



\ 



CHAMBOBD 235 



should refuse to allow the French people to offer the 
young Prince who rekindles all their hopes a trifling- 
tax on their revenues, when they are ready to sacri- 
fice for him, if need be, their property and their lives, 
when they would count among their riches the honor 
of having furnished their quota of the free gift which 
will forever prove their attachment and their love ! 
It is for Your Majesty alone to refuse, in the name of 
your august ward, a present which he does not need. 
He will have plenty of castles at his disposal some 
day, and the Chambers, in the name of the nation, will 
settle his allowance. Meanwhile, would it not afflict 
good and faithful subjects if Your Majesty were to 
accept the good wishes which certainly reach his 
heart, and yet refuse the homage which accompanies 
them ? Your Majesty would perhaps show as much 
generosity as kindness by condescending to their 
wishes. So many resolutions press one upon another 
that it is no longer a question of private affairs to be 
examined according to administrative rules. * It is a 
universal and national prayer which asks to be heard. 
To grant it Avould be a sweet satisfaction for Your 
Majesty, and a new benefit for your subjects." 

This obsequious language was a sign of the times. 
To credit the minister's report, the King was bestow- 
ing a favor on his subjects by deigning to accept 
their present, and he was thanked for a generosity 
which consisted, not in giving, but in receiving. 

The opposition tried in vain to arrest the move- 
ment. Paul Louis Courier, in his " Simple discourse 



236 THE DUCHESS OF BEERY 

of a vine-dresser of the Chavanniere to the members 
of the Municipal Council of Veretz " (Indre-et-Loire), 
tried without avail to combat the idea of the subscrip- 
tion. It made progress notwithstanding. All the 
communes of France emulated each other in zeal 
and generosity. A committee, with the Marquis of 
Herbouville as president and M. Berryer as secre- 
tary, organized the undertaking, and in the name of 
the subscribers, bought the domain of Chambord for 
the Duke of Bordeaux. It was sold at auction, 
March 5, 1821, for 1,542,000 francs, independent of 
costs. 

The news reached Chambord two days later, in the 
evening. The inhabitants of the park and the 
neighboring villages had been anxiously awaiting 
the results of the bidding. A general outburst of 
joy greeted the tidings. There were fireworks on 
the Place d' Amies, and all the guards of the park 
assembled to salute the new master of the castle by 
discharges of musketry. 

What is really strange is that less satisfaction was 
felt at the Tuileries. We are assured that the Count 
of Artois was but half pleased with the homage 
offered to his grandson, and that he said to some one 
who made haste to inform him of the result of the 
sale, " What business is that of yours, sir ? " More 
than one ambitious person was secretly jealous of the 
initiative taken by M. de Calonne. Chambord was 
in no great esteem, moreover, because for the last 
century and a half the court had not journeyed 



CHAMBOBD 237 



thither. One coui'tier was heard to exchiim anxiously 
that the apartment formerly called the King's cabinet 
would not be large enough for the present grand 
receptions. 

A royalist writer, M. Merle, who had brought back 
some views, drawings, and notes concerning Chambord, 
undertook to defend the calumniated castle to the 
Duchess of Berry, and as the amiable Princess had 
the soul of an artist, he had no difficulty in convinc- 
ing her. After having examined the drawings, she 
said to the Duchess of Reggio, her lady of honor; 
" They told me Chambord was nothing but a heap of 
ruins. How they deceived me ! " As soon as she 
learned that the buildings were intact and the sculp- 
tures in a state of perfect preservation, she became 
most enthusiastic, and asked M. Merle a host of 
questions concerning the historical origins and the 
magnificence of the castle just presented to her son. 

Some weeks afterward the Count of Marcellus, 
after making a sort of royalist pilgrimage to Cham- 
bord, published an article in the Ruche cT Aquitaine^ 
which was republished in the Moniteur of August 
30, 1821. 

" I confess," said he in this article, " that I forgot 
Henri II. and Marshal Saxe, and even Francis I., at 
Chambord, and thought of no one but the Duke of 
Bordeaux. I saw him only. To me, that beautiful 
solitude awoke to new life. Chambord became Ver- 
sailles. I already saw the superb castle resplendent 
with the pomps of royal majesty. I saw its stairs, 



238 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

its galleries and columns, its gardens, cascades, and 
sheets of water, and, in the midst of all these mar- 
vels, the marvellous child, become a great Prince, 
walking in the splendid alleys and meditating, to 
the sound of ever-flowing fountains, on the means 
whereby to renew the welfare and the happiness of 
the country which had restored Chambord to him, 
how to alleviate the woes of France, and to recall the 
days of its power and glory to the realm of Francis 
I. and Henri the Great." 

What has remained of all these projects, of all 
these hopes ? Nothing, unless it be the memory of a 
dream. 



XXVI 

THE BAPTISM OF THE DUKE OF BORDEAUX 

THE baptism of the Duke of Bordeaux took place 
with the greatest pomp at Notre Dame, May 1, 
1821. The okl basilica was resplendent. An immense 
portico, the whole width of the front of the church, had 
been erected which reached as high as the upper galler- 
ies of the edifice. In the middle of its front, a porch, 
forming the principal entry, was covered with a large 
pointed archway, richly decorated with the escutch- 
eons and monograms of Louis XVIII. and the Duke 
of Bordeaux. Below were four gilded statues repre- 
senting Clovis, Charlemagne, Saint Louis, and Henri 
IV. Enormous banners displaying the arms of France 
floated from the towers. Seats had been arranged in 
form of an amphitheatre in the open space before the 
church. The interior of the cathedral was hung with 
magnificent draperies and sparkled with a myriad of 
lights. 

Listen to the account given by Madame de Gontaut, 
governess of the children of France : — 

" The household of M. the Duke of Berry, already 
styled the household of M. the Duke of Bordeaux, 
accompanied him to the j)alace of the King, where 

239 



240 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

all the princes were assembled. The grand noaster 
of ceremonies then went to receive the commands of 
His Majesty as to the moment of departure ; the 
aides-de-camp of M. the Duke of Bordeaux escorted 
him to his carriage ; I sat down on the right, carry- 
ing Monseigneur, with Madame de Foresta (under- 
governess) carrying Mademoiselle ; on the left was 
the nurse, facing her; Madame Lemoine was opposite 
Monseigneur; we were surrounded by body-guards, 
and an officer stood at each of the carriage doors. 

" At this moment a man brought a letter addressed 
to me and then vanished : it was handed to me. I 
can recollect every word of this note, which com- 
menced in this way: 'Urgent and important: Look 
out when you approach the Pont-Neuf, where there 
is to be a halt. Take care of the Prince then.' At 
these words, ' Take care of the Prince,' I handed the 
note to the officer of the body-guards, saying, ' This 
concerns you.' He read it, and laying his hand on 
his sword, said to me, ' Fear nothing.' 

"For some years, the King, who suffered from 
gout, had not walked any : but, being still active, he 
went out every day in an armchair rolling on a spring- 
, board adapted to the height of a carriage. It was 
thus His Majesty set out from the Tuileries for 
Notre Dame." 

The grand procession started at noon. Three salvos 
of artillery, of twenty-one guns each, announced its 
departure. The King's carriages, fifteen in all, and 
those of the princes and princesses of the royal family, 



THE BAPTISM OF THE DUKE OF BOBBEAUX 241 

amounting to twelve, were drawn down by eight 
horses apiece. That of the Duke of Bordeaux went 
in front of the King's, which was preceded by pages, 
four herakis, and the king-at-ai-ms. Louis XVIII. 
and the Duchess of Angouleme sat on the back seat 
of the royal carriage, and the Duchess of Berry and 
the Duke of Angouleme on the front. An immense 
crowd thronged the quays and squares all along the 
route. All the windows were decked with white 
flags and flowers. The procession was to pass through 
the Carrousel, the Louvre quay, the quay I'Ecole, the 
Orf^vres, the rue Marche-Neuf, the rue Neuve-Notre 
Dame, and the Place of the Parvis-Notre Dame. 

The nearer it drew to the Pont-Neuf, the more 
Madame de Gontaut pondered on the mysterious 
billet that had been sent her. Let us return to her 
account : — 

" There was a halt at the Pont-Neuf, the market- 
women having received permission to present a bou- 
quet to Monseigneur and an address to the King, 
during which, I confess, I held Monseigneur close to 
my heart, which was beating very hard, and gave 
those dames a view of my broad shoulders." 

The anxieties of the governess were not yet ended. 
" The good and gentle Madame de Foresta," she 
adds, " who was tormented by timidity, implored me 
not to abandon her during the imposing ceremony 
which was at hand. I explained to her that she had 
nothing to do except to keep near Madame the 
Duchess of Berry. I told the nurse to assist her in 



242 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

getting out of the carriage and lead lier to tli6 cathe- 
dral, which she did ; then I asked Madame Lemoine 
to roll up the bottom of my robe, which was over 
eight yards in length, and heavy with silver, and be 
careful in throwing it after me at the moment I 
alighted (which she happily did). When we reached 
the open space in front of Notre Dame, a footman 
opened the carriage door; Madame de Foresta and 
the nurse alighted ; but as I was still standing on the 
steps, with the Duke of Bordeaux in my arms, I felt 
and saw the two front horses of the King's carriage 
coming up to me at full speed. It was too late to 
draw back, and I sprang out with the force and skill 
given by a danger which must be escaped. I saw M. 
the Duke of Orleans, who had already arrived to 
receive the King, and I called him in a terrified 
voice. A footman had caught up the bottom of my 
robe with much presence of mind ; the Duke of 
Orleans, prompt and attentive, su^^ported me, and 
said, ' The Duke of Bordeaux is safe ; go into the 
cathedral ; they are waiting for 3^ou there.' 

" At this moment, M. de Breze came to look for me. 
The church was dazzling; every pillar was covered 
with gold and silver gauze ; the raised seats were 
filled with elegant women; nothing could be finer. 
I advanced alone, holding Monseigneur in my arms 
so that everybody could see him. The organ began 
as soon as he appeared. Monseigneur was not fright- 
ened. He sat up and began to look for the place 
the beautiful sound came from. He was charming 



THE BAPTISM OF THE DUKE OF BOBBEAUX 243 

then. The cries of 'Long live the Duke of Bor- 
deaux! ' were unanimous." 

Cardinal Perigord, the Archbishop of Paris, was 
old and infirm, and as little able to walk as Louis 
XVIII. He was therefore obliged to remain at the 
altar, and it was his coadjutor, Mgr. de Quelen, who 
went to the threshold of the cathedral to receive the 
King : " Sire," said he, " our venerable Archbishop is 
now at the foot of the holy altar, imploring celestial 
blessings on the King, his august family, and France. 
He has sent me to beg Your Majesty to graciously 
permit his old age to borrow, to-day, the voice of his 
coadjutor whereby to offer Your Majesty his profound 
and respectful homage, and that of his chapter and 
diocesan clergy." 

Louis XVIII. replied : " Your venerable Archbishop 
could not express his sentiments to me through a more 
worthy interpreter. It is consoling for me, in my 
infirmities, to be able to enter the Lord's temple and 
offer Him the child of Saint Louis, the child of France, 
my child, the inheritor of my throne. Let us seek 
for him the protection of the Mother of God, the 
Queen of Angels. Let us pray her to watch over his 
life, to avert from his cradle the misfortunes by which 
it pleased Providence to try his parents, and to con- 
duct him, by a less difficult path than mine, to eternal 
happiness." 

Surrounded by the princes and princesses and the 
officers of his household, Louis XVIII. , drawn in his 
armchair, slowly approached the choir, and then his 



244 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

prie-Dleu. On his right were the Count of Artois, 
the Duke of Angouleme, the Duke of Bordeaux, 
in the arms of his governess, the Duke of Orleans and 
the Duke of Bourbon; on his left, the Duchess of 
Angouleme, the Duchess of Berry, Mademoiselle, car- 
ried by the under-governess, the Duchess of Orleans 
and Mademoiselle of Orleans. Cardinal Perigord, 
Archbishop of Paris, intoned the Veni Creator. Then 
the princes and princesses of the royal family and 
of the blood approached the steps of the Sanctuary, 
and the baptism was celebrated. Monsieur represented 
the King of the Two Sicilies, the godfather. The 
Duchess of Angouleme represented the Duchess of 
Calabria, hereditary Princess of the Two Sicilies, the 
godmother. After the baptism, the governess of the 
children of France ascended the altar steps and laid 
the little Prince thereon for an instant, then, turning 
and holding him up in her arms, she presented him 
to the audience, who greeted him with acclamations. 
Cardinal Perigord said afterwards to the King: 
" Sire, when this royal infant was given to God to 
console France in its misfortunes. Religion saluted 
him with transports of gratitude. It cannot, without 
profound emotion, see Your Majesty coming in person 
to consecrate him to the Lord in His temple and to 
lay him on His altar, as if to recognize in a more 
solemn manner the miracle of so great a blessing. 
Religion, Sire, gives back into your hands this pre- 
cious deposit, laden with its blessings and its hopes ; 
it confides him to Your Majesty to be taught, by your 



THE BAPTISM OF THE DUKE OF BORDEAUX 245 

lessons and examples, what the Church has the right 
to expect from a most Christian King." 

Louis XVIII. replied: "What better could I do 
than to come and present this precious infant to the 
Lord, to invoke for him the protection of the most 
Holy Virgin, and to dare adjoin my blessing to that 
which you have just poured out upon his head ? Pray 
for him, Monsieur the Cardinal; I beg you most 
urgently to do so. Let the metropolitan clergy and 
all the clergy of France pray for him, that he may 
render himself worthy of the blessing bestowed on us 
by Heaven in his birth, and that his life may be 
devoted to the Avelfare of France and the glory of 
our holy religion." 

After this discourse, the Duke of Bordeaux and 
Mademoiselle his sister, " whose graces had been 
much noticed by the public during the ceremony," 
said the next day's Quotidienne^ were taken back to 
the palace with a special cortege composed of the 
Duchess of Berry's three carriages. A half-squadron 
of light cavalry rode in front; eight of Monsieur's 
body-guards and a brigadier preceded the carriage of 
the Prince, at the right door of which was stationed 
a commanding officer of a detachment of the royal 
guard, and an officer of Monsieur's guard, and at the 
left door another officer of the same guards ; behind 
the carriage came a squadron of body-guards and a 
half-squadron of the royal guards. 

During this return, the governess of the children of 
France experienced another vivid emotion. " INIon- 



246 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

seigneur was asleep on my lap on the way," says she. 
" On re-entering the quays in the court of the Tui- 
leries, the officer of the guards being unable to pass 
under the wicket at the same time as the carriage 
without danger of being crushed, I had placed myself 
(as was my habit) in the middle of the carriage win- 
dow, so as to preserve Monseigneur from injury, wdien 
I received a blow on my shoulder which made me 
jump ; I put my hand to it, and saw a stain of blood 
on my glove. Delighted to have saved Monseigneur 
by my precaution, I said loftily, ' I am wounded ; he 
is saved.' And I added, laughing, ' I shall have the 
cross of Saint Louis ; that is the object of my ambi- 
tion.' 

" On alighting at the Pavilion of Marsan, I had a 
search made for the thing that had struck me ; an 
unsigned petition was found written on a piece of 
parchment twisted into the form of a cornet, at the 
end of which was a very small and sharply pointed 
bit of iron ; the woman who threw it had been seen ; 
but this method of presenting petitions being known, 
no attention had been paid to it." 

To sum up, everything had passed off to the entire 
satisfaction of the royal family. In the morning, a 
deputation of charcoal-men and market porters had 
laid at the base of the statue of Henri IV. on the 
Pont-Neuf, a tablet with this inscription : " French- 
men, love my grandson as I have loved your fathers. 
— Jeanne d'Albret, 1553 — Caroline, 1820." Fire- 
works were displayed during the evening, the whole 



THE BAPTISM OF THE BUKE OF BORDEAUX 247 

city was illuminated, and bands went through the 
streets with white flags, greeted by cries of "Long 
live the King ! long live the Duke of Bordeaux ! " 

A grand fete was given at the Hotel de Ville by 
the municipal council the following day. May 2. M. 
de Chabrol, prefect of the Seine, said, while regret- 
ting the King's absence : " August monarch, cherished 
father, the eager crowd looks on every side for your 
venerated features ; it offers you its benedictions and 
its, transports." Monsieur exclaimed with emotion : 
" For my part, a Frenchman and the son of a French- 
man, born of a family altogether French, what is not 
my happiness to find myself thus in the midst of my 
compatriots. And how can my prayers be for aught 
except their happiness ? Be assured, gentlemen, that 
my family and I will always labor for it with all our 
hearts." The banquet of the princes and princesses 
was served in the hall of Saint John. Twelve dames 
designated by the King from different classes of the 
citizens sat down at it. After the repast, the guests 
passed on into the hall of the Holy Spirit, where an 
interlude called Les Arts invaux was performed, the 
words of which were by M. Alissan de Chazet and 
the music by Berton and Boieldieu. After this inter- 
lude, executed by artists from the Opera-Comique, a 
curtain was lifted and an allegoric transparency 
exposed, which represented the Duke of Bordeaux, 
lying as in a cradle, in the vessel of the arms of Paris, 
Fluctuate nee mergitur. " How like it is ! " cried the 
Duchess of Berry, joyfully, and then she showed 



248 THE DUCHESS OF BEBEY 

Madame cle Chabrol a bracelet containing a portrait 
of the little Prince, so that she might judge of the 
merits of the likeness. Daring this time a romance 
entitled " God gave him," was sung by the tenor 
Ponchard, accompanied by the violinist Lafon. 

The Princess afterwards looked Avith great pleasure 
at two transparencies by Ciceri, one of which repre- 
sented a view of Palermo, and the other her triumph- 
ant arrival at Marseilles in 1816. The artists of the 
Op^ra and the Opera-Comique joined their forces to 
execute in the Throne-room a cantata the words of 
which were composed by Baour-Lormian and the 
music by Cherubini. The princes and princesses 
then repaired to the large ballroom which had been 
constructed in the court of the H6tel de Ville; it rose 
to the height of the first story and connected with 
the other apartments. Six hundred women were sit- 
ting on benches which had been arranged in the form 
of an amphitheatre. The men were ranged behind 
them. The decorations consisted of arcades of mir- 
rors enshrined in garlands of flowers. The middle of 
the hall was entirely empty. The princes and prin- 
cesses promenaded there, the assembly standing 
meanwhile and applauding them enthusiastically. 
Then the ball opened, and was kept up until seven 
o'clock in the morning. Five thousand persons had' 
been spectators of this admirably organized entertain- 
ment. 

The following day, May 3, there were popular 
balls and other amusements to celebrate the seventh 



THE BAPTISM OF THE DUKE OF BORDEAUX 249 

anniversary of the King's re-entry into Paris. INIay 6, 
the general and supreme officers of the royal guard 
and the body-guards, the ordinary foot-guards of the 
King and those of Monsieur, gave a fete to the 
princes in the Odeon theatre. This was not organ- 
ized witliout some difficulty ; for there is a limit to 
the enthusiasm for princes, especially when the ques- 
tion of expense arises. Consider, on this head, the 
avowals made by Marshal Marmont, Duke of Ragusa, 
who says in his Memoirs : " It was in good taste for 
the guard, which had been loaded with benefits by 
the King, to celebrate the immense happiness of the 
royal family with brilliancy and splendor. Being on 
duty, I advanced that opinion. The generals and 
other officers did not take to it kindly. A mean 
parsimony stood in its way. I overruled these con- 
siderations and ordered the fete at their expense. 
But I had calculated so that the sum should not 
exceed their means. The King promised me to pay 
half the expense in his capacity as colonel-general of 
the guard. The King's household joined us, and one 
day's pay was all that was required to provide for all 
the rest. The hall of the Odeon was selected. Four 
thousand persons assembled there. A play written 
for the occasion in the first place, afterwards an 
admirable cantata, Dieu Va domie ! and a magnifi- 
cent ball, followed by an excellent and abundant 
supper, composed this entertainment, which suc- 
ceeded as well as could be desired." A military 
character had been given it. The front of the boxes 



250 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

was hung with silver gauze sown with the crosses of 
Saint Louis and of the Legion of Honor. Weapons 
and flags were displayed on all sides. The arrivals of 
Monsieur, the Duchess of Berry, and the Duke and 
Duchess of Angouleme were greeted by noisy bursts 
of music. 

There were theatricals at court on the 1st, the 4th, 
and the 5th of May. May 5th ! Napoleon died on 
the rock of Saint Helena that day. The news did 
not reach Paris until early in July. The court of 
France had the good taste not to rejoice publicly 
over it. One of the Emperor's former aides-de-camp, 
General Count Rapp, was on duty at the time as first 
chamberlain and master of the wardrobe to Louis 
XVIIL, and in that capacity he was on his way to 
breakfast with the King when he was informed of 
the news. At first he refused to believe it; but 
when doubt could no longer be entertained, he was 
unable to restrain his tears, and retired, saying that 
he could not be unmoved by the death of him to 
whom he had been attached for fifteen years, as he 
was not an ingrate. As the general did not break- 
fast at the royal table, Louis XYIH. had him sum- 
moned after Mass. 

'^ I know," he said to him, '' that the news I have 
received has afflicted you deeply. That does honor to 
your heart; Hove and esteem you all the more for it." 

" Sire," replied General Rapp, " I owe everything 
to Napoleon, and above all, the esteem and kindness 
of Your Majesty." 



TUE BAPTISM OF THE DUKE OF BOBBEAUX 251 

Thenceforward the Bourbon monarchy believed 
itself invulnerable. The Duchess of Berry had 
taken in serious earnest a present from the city of 
Bordeaux — the faithful city, as it was then called 
— which had offered her a counterpane representing 
not merely the Child of Miracle, but the Archangel 
Michael overthrowing the Evil One. The most 
ardent revolutionists were discouraged. The recent 
conspiracies were forgotten. No further thought 
was given to the seething agitations in Spain and 
Italy. 

If one desires an idea of the pitch to which lauda- 
tion had risen, he should re-read the ode composed 
by Victor Hugo in May, 1821, to celebrate the bap- 
tism of the Prince. We quote several stanzas : — 

" Peoples, doubt not ! Chant your victory, 
A saviour is born, vested with power and glory. 
The sceptre and the sword he binds together. 
Days of prosperity shall rise from the lessons of misfortune, 

For the uncoffined shades of sixty Kings, 
His fathers, watch above his cradle. 

" Let all tremble and be abashed I 
Mortal pride speaks in vain ; 
The royal lion bends beneath 
The yoke of the Divine Lamb. 
The father, encircled by stars, 
Toward the feeble and unveiled child 
Descends, borne upon the winds. 
The Holy Ghost bathes him in fire. 
He is born into the world 
But to be born again into eternity! 



252 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

'' Marie of the modest halo, 
Happy and ever praying, 
Guides the celestial virgins 
Toward her ancient temple of two towers. 
All the heavenly hosts, 
Dispread among the stars, 
Follow her triumphal car. 
Charity goes before them ; 
Faith shines, and holy Hope 
Sits near the humble child." 

And yet, at the close of this triumphal hymn, of 
this resounding canticle of thanksgiving, there comes 
a melancholy note, as if the poet had had the gift of 
prophecy : — 

" I go, O Muse, whither thou sendest me. 

I know only how to shed tears ! 

But may this lute, faithful to their woes, 

Be faithful also to their joys. 

My voice has not learned 

From their recent history 

How to praise the Lord 

In the accents of victory. 

O Kings, crowned victims. 

When one sings your destinies 

He little knows how to sing of happiness." 

At this same period Beranger bethought himself 
of another baptism, which had also been celebrated 
at Notre Dame, — that of June 7, 1811, — and he 
composed his famous chanson, " The Two Cousins, 
or a letter from a little King to a little Duke." The 
little King was the King of Rome ; the little Duke, 
the Duke of Bordeaux : — 



THE BAPTISM OF THE DUKE OF BOBBEAUX 253 

" Hail ! little cousin german ; 
From a land of exile I dare write you; 
Fortune extends her hand to you. 
Your birthday makes her smile. 
My first day was fine also, 
As every Frenchman will agree ; 
Kings adored me in my cradle, 
And yet I am at Vienna. . . . 

" If you grow up near the throne, 
If I vegetate without power, 
Confound those cursed courtiers 
By reminding them of my birth. 
Tell them : — * I may have my turn. 
Remember my cousin ! 
You promised him your love, 
And yet he is at Vienna.' " 

In 1821 the Duchess of Berry did not believe that 
her son likewise would go to Vienna. She banished 
all dark forebodings and thanked God from the bot- 
tom of her heart. Some days after the baptism of 
the Duke of Bordeaux, she made a pilgrimage of 
thanksgiving to the shrine of Our Lady of Liesse. 
A letter, addressed to the Baron of Fremilly, by the 
Marquis of Montreton, which has been communicated 
to us by the Marquis of Pimodan, gives certain details 
on this subject which delineate extremely well the 
spirit of the time : — 

"This Saturday, May 26, 1821. — I promised you, 
my dear, an account of Madame the Duchess of 
Berry's pilgrimage, and I hasten to keep my word. 
On Tuesday, Madame arrived at Laon, where all the 



254 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

people of the environs were assembled. The whole 
city was hung with white flags, and she was greeted 
with repeated cries of ' Long live the King ! Long 
live the Duchess of Berry ! Long live the Bour- 
bons ! ' The prefect, the officer of the regiment of 
Berry cuirassiers, and the authorities received the 
Princess at the foot of the mountain. There she got 
into an oj^en carriage. The entire road was lined 
with people. The mountain, covered with men and 
women, was an admirable sight. She viewed the 
regiment and then went to the prefecture, where all 
the ladies of the city were presented to her. A com- 
mercial deputation from Saint Quentin offered her 
cambrics, dresses, and other products of the industries 
of that town. The Princess went on her way again 
after having visited the cathedral and prayed there. 
. . . Nothing has been more affecting than Tuesday's 
journey. The Princess reached Liesse at seven 
o'clock, and went at once to the parish church to 
hear Mass and receive Communion. Twenty young 
girls performed the same duty. Madame was dressed 
in a simple white robe, with a veil on her head. 
After her Communion the Princess kneeled down 
again on her j:>rze-Z>/£'?t, which was placed in the 
middle of the choir of the church. There the memory 
of her eternal sorrow again assailed her, and her tears 
flowed freely. All who were in the church were as 
deeply moved as she. I saw some of the cuirassiers 
wiping away the tears they could not keep back. 
This spectacle of a young princess, widowed by an 



THE BAPTISM OF THE DUKE OF BORDEAUX 255 

atrocious crime, weeping at the foot of the altar for 
the object of her affection, thanking Heaven for the 
consolation it had given her, and imploring for her 
son the protection of the Blessed Virgin, was the 
most imposing and the most affecting that can be 
conceived." 

Two days later, the Duchess of Berry visited 
the mirror manufactory, where a workman made a 
play on words to her which had a great success: 
" Madame, everything is ice [glace, meaning in 
French both " ice " and " mirror " ] here, except our 
hearts." The Marquis of Montreton ends his letter 
thus : — 

" This four days' journey has convinced me more 
than ever that the mass of the people are royalists, 
and that the Bourbons need only to show themselves, 
•in order to win all hearts. You are right in think- 
ing that the Princess has given abundant alms on 
this sacred journey. She has been as amiable as 
possible to all who have had the honor to apj)roach 
her. The National Guard of Laon, both foot and 
horse, who were on duty about her person, are 
enchanted, and from being lukewarm, as they were, 
I believe, on my word, they have become ultra." 



XXVII 



THE COUNTESS OF CAYLA 



ALTHOUGH not affectionate by nature, Louis 
XVIII. had need of a special kind of affec- 
tion. He must have near him a person in whom he 
had absolute trust, who saw him at any moment, 
who received all his confidences, all his secrets, and 
with whom he could think aloud. This friendship 
of a particular kind did not last indefinitely, but, so 
long as it did last, it possessed an exclusive char- 
acter which made it a veritable passion. Any attack 
on the object of this favoritism was like high treason 
in the eyes of the King, and the greater were the 
jealousies excited by the person thus preferred, the 
more did the monarch please himself by heaping up 
and overwhelming him with favors. In aggrandiz- 
ing him, he thought he aggrandized himself, and he 
identified himself with the object of his choice. 
Unable to hunt, and. incapable of many pleasures, 
nailed to his armchair by sufferings, he had no 
resource but this impassioned friendship into which 
he cast all he possessed of mind and heart. It was 
thus that he loved, one after the other, the Countess 
of Balbi, the Count of Avaray during the emigration, 
256 



THE COUNTESS OF CAYLA 257 

the Duke Decazes from 1816 to 1820, and the Coun- 
tess of Cayla from 1820 till his latest hour. 

M. Decazes was still in high favor when he intro- 
duced to Louis XVIII. the woman who was to 
replace him in the monarch's favor. Zoe Victoire 
Talon, Countess of Cayla, was born in 1784. Her 
father, Avho belonged to an ancient family of advo- 
cates, had taken part in the struggle between the 
court and the Revolution from 1789 to 1792, and 
was mixed up, so it was said, with the policy of the 
Count of Provence. At the time when the unfortu- 
nate Marquis of Favras was condemned to death, 
without having revealed anything concerning his 
real or supposed relations with the brother of Louis 
XVL, M. Talon, it was also said, had received the 
compromising confidences of the condemned man, 
and a packet of documents inculpating the Count of 
Provence. During the emigration of her father, 
Zoe Talon had remained in France. She had been 
educated there by Madame Campan, and had 
profited by that elegant education which Lamartine 
has called a school of feminine diplomacy. She was 
intimate with Hor tense de Beauharnais and the 
brilliant young persons who were the fashionable 
women of the Consulate and the Empire. Pretty, 
amiable, and intelligent, she possessed all that could 
make her pleasing. 

She was married to a man of high birth, belonging 
to the little court of the Condes, Count du Cayla, 
who became a peer of France in 1815. This union 



258 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

was not a liappy one, and the pair separated on 
the ground of incompatibility of temper. But the 
Countess was skilful enough to secure the sympathy 
of the Condes and that of her mother-in-law, who 
had belonged to the household of Madame the 
Countess of Provence, wife of Louis XVIII. 

The dowager Countess of Cayla was altogether on 
the side of her daughter-in-law. Before dying, she 
sent her a letter, which, in case of necessity, would 
become a talisman. She addressed it to the King, 
whom she had always found full of good will toward 
her, and in words which her approaching death ren- 
dered solemn and affecting, she supplicated the mon- 
arch to protect her son's wife against the resentment 
of her son. 

The dowager Countess was alread}^ dead when her 
daughter-in-law was obliged to make use of this 
precious letter. Her husband brought suits to force 
her to live with him again, or, failing that, to take 
their children from under her care (a son who had 
not attained to manhood, and a daughter who became 
the Princess of Craon). The unhappy Countess 
thought of escape, of leaving the country, of hiding 
herself, when the idea of throwing herself at the 
King's feet as a suppliant occurred to her. The 
Prince of Conde himself conducted her to the door 
of the Tuileries. 

At the same time, the ultra-royalist party, which 
detested M. Decazes, and wanted to inaugurate a 
reactionist policy at any cost, conceived the scheme 



r 



THE COUNTESS OF CAY LA 259 



of utilizing the beautiful Countess in order to gain 
influence over the mind of Louis XVIII. Many 
persons renowned for their piety and gravity entered 
into this sort of conspiracy. One of the best and 
oldest friends of the Countess, Viscount Sosthene 
de La Rochefoucauld, boasts in his Memoirs of hav- 
ing overcome, and not without difficulty, the resist- 
ance she herself offered to this project. 

Lamartine, accustomed to see things in rose color, 
and very favorable to the attractive Countess, has 
written : — 

" Madame du Cayla's letters to the Viscount La 
Rochefoucauld, tender and pious at the same time, 
like all feminine confidences, nevertheless attest by 
their clear notions concerning the events of the day, 
a power of reflection and a breadth of judgment 
which would not have been surprising in a Sevigne 
or an Orsini princess. These letters, many of which 
have since been published, doubtless suggested, either 
to M. de La Rochefoucauld or his set, the flrst notion 
of that plan of alluring influence which it was sought 
to exercise over the eyes, the mind, and the heart of 
the King. An Esther, as Madame du Cayla herself 
said sportively, was necessary to this Ahasuerus." 

The get-up of the presentation was planned in 
the most skilful manner. The beautiful Countess 
appeared as a suppliant. She was a persecuted 
woman who needed a defender. She was a w^eeping 
mother who desired to keep her children. She had 
all the charm of emotion and of grief. Her gentle 



260 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

eyes swam in tears. She brought the lettec of a 
dead woman, her mother-in-law, who from the 
depths of the tomb pleaded her cause with the 
King. Louis XVIII. found himself affected, fasci- 
nated. The imagination of this old man retained 
a juvenile freshness. M. de Vitrolles relates that 
when the suppliant came to say that her husband 
wanted to take away her children, Louis XVIII. 
exclaimed, alluding to the incessant efforts made to 
remove his dear minister, M. Decazes : " Me too, 
Madame ; they want to take away my child ! " Spite 
of her perspicacity, Madame du Cayla did not at once 
understand the King's meaning, and supposed he 
alluded to some plot against the life of the Duke of 
Angouleme. But Louis XVIII. explained himself 
more clearly, and the clever Countess took good care 
to speak deferentially of tJie child she was about to 
supersede in the royal favor. From that moment 
her cause was gained. The beautiful solicitress 
obtained the favor that her children should be put 
out of her husband's reach, and the Minister of Police 
received orders to conceal them from all eyes. 

Louis XVIII. fell in love ... as much in love as 
was possible for him. To credit M. de Lamartine, "the 
Kingc's sentiment for this attractive woman had from 
the first the character of a love which hides from 
itself, under the name of friendship, what the age of 
the King and the reserve of the woman did not per- 
mit to be avowed ; he felt an affection for her which 
he styled paternal, and he called her his daughter, 



TUE COUNTESS OF CAYLA 261 

not daring, through respect for himself and respect 
for her, to call her by any other name." What is 
certain is, that the sympathy of Louis XVIII. for the 
Countess was soon transformed into a real infatua- 
tion. Far from ostentatiously displaying itself, the 
new favoritism began timidly at first; except the 
ushers and a few courtiers more familiar than the 
others, no one was informed of it; the Ministers 
themselves knew nothing about it. Little by little 
the thing got about at court. Two or three audiences 
a week, at certain days and hours, no longer sufficed 
the eagerness of the King. He began to write fre- 
quently to Madame du Cayla, then every day, then 
several times a day. He spoke of everything to her, 
consulted her on everything. M. Decazes was for- 
gotten. 

The ultra-royalists were in ecstasies over this 
result. The Abbe Liautard, adviser to the Countess, 
has written : " One can understand without difficulty 
what care and minute attentions were necessary in 
order to despoil the King of his own ideas, to make 
over, so to say, his brains, his memory, all his faculties 
and all his affections." And the Viscount Sosthene 
de la Rochefoucauld exclaims in his Memoirs : — 

" It was necessary to combat a faction as active as 
it was perfidious, to change the thoughts and feel- 
ings of the King, and to wrest him from the always 
dangerous influence of M. Decazes. ... It was a 
contest between the angel of good and the spirit of 
evil." 



262 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

Louis XVIII. finally put his Ministers on the alert 
by requesting them not to attempt to transact busi- 
ness with him at certain hours which he named, and 
which were precisely those of his interviews with his 
new friend. Madame du Cayla became a political 
woman. M. Ernest Daudet says in his excellent 
Histoire de la Restauration : — 

" When Madame du Cayla wrote or spoke to Louis 
XVIII. it was the extreme Right that expressed itself 
by her mouth or held her pen. The more and more 
decided inclination manifested by the King toward 
this young woman, caused the favor she enjoyed to 
be a force for her friends, and her influence became 
so powerful that we shall soon see the austere and 
serious Villele obliged to reckon with her, or, rather, 
with the political personages whose inspirations she 
received and whose counsels she followed." M. 
Ernest Daudet adds this reflection : — 

" When one studies the great events of history and 
goes back to their beginnings, it is not a rare thing 
to find apparently futile causes, which, notwithstand- 
ing their futility, the historian cannot leave in their 
obscurity. It is on this account that it is necessary 
in passing to outline this favorite, who had nothing in 
common with her predecessors, who was simply an 
agreeable intellectual pastime for the infirm monarch, 
but whose action was more than once exercised in 
politics during the last years of his reign." 

The court was concerned about Madame du Cayla, 
but the public hardly considered her. As M. de 



I 



THE COUNTESS OF CAYLA 263 

Vitrolles has remarked : " Kings have lost the prestige 
which once lent all their actions the interest of pub- 
lic events. Moreover, the age of Louis XVIII. 
forbade all suspicion of commonplace gallantry." 
Nevertheless, M. de Vitrolles adds that there was 
some jesting on the subject among the courtiers at 
the Tuileries. He says : " It seems she was very 
reserved about accepting his gifts, and her fortune 
was so modest that her disinterestedness was all the 
more creditable. We are assured that in the begin- 
ning of their relations he offered her a roll containing 
one hundi-ed banknotes of a thousand francs each, but 
was never able to induce her to accept them. He 
did better than that in the long run." 

The high favor enjoyed by Madame du Cayla was 
soon an open secret. Louis XVIII. had bought the 
park of Saint Ouen. He had a fine residence built 
there, and it was generally supposed that he intended 
to present it to the Duchess of AngoulSme. Sud- 
denly it became known that the Countess of Cayla 
was to be its owner. He thought that after his death 
the beautiful eyes of the Countess could be continu- 
ally turned from its windows toward the church of 
Saint Denis, where he would be buried, and this 
melancholy idea had for him a sad and nameless 
charm. On the other hand. Saint Ouen, where he 
had promulgated the liberal Declaration of 1814, 
reminded him of what he considered the best monu- 
ment of his wisdom, and it pleased him to adorn him- 
self, in the eyes of his favorite, with the most glorious 



264 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

souvenir of his reign. He personally supervised even 
the least details of the construction and furnishing of 
the elegant residence by which he was to pay homage 
to his fair friend. Gerard had painted a magnificent 
portrait of him. This masterpiece was hung in the 
grand salon. Opposite to it the King caused a large * 
slab of marble to be placed, with the following 
inscription in letters of gold: " Here began a new era, 
May 2, 1814." It was the date of the Dedication of 
Saint Ouen. " Ever3rthing was choice and perfect," 
says the Baron of Vitrolles. " Nothing was lacking 
but a dedication. I should have liked to put this 
verse from Athalie over the entrance wicket : — 

" ' I have built her a temple and taken pains to adorn it.' 

" But I was far from being in such favor as would 
have permitted me to suggest it." 

Like almost all women who have concerned them- 
selves in politics, the Countess of Cayla has been the 
object of the most widely diverse criticism. Marshal 
Marmont has aimed a violent and insulting remark 
against her in his Memoirs. Beranger also attacked 
her in 1823, in his cruel ballad, Octavie. On the 
other hand, the favorite has been exalted by the Vis- 
count Sosth^ne de La Rochefoucauld, and by M. de 
Lamartine. The Count of Artois made her promise 
"- not to mind the things that might be said against 
her by spite and folly, and to rest peacefully in the 
noble use she made of the confidence and aifection 
of the King." It is thus that, accordingly as party 



THE COUNTESS OF CAYLA 265 

spirit moved them, this woman seemed to some eyes 
an intriguer, a selfish person, a guilty favorite ; and 
to others, a pious Esther, a subject of edification, a 
friend of the Church, and a protectress of the good 
cause. 



XXVIII 

THE END OF THE REIGN 

THE favor enjoyed by the Countess of Cayla did 
not cast the Duchess of Berry into the shade. 
The Countess, who resembled the favorites of Louis 
XIV. no more than Louis XVIII. resembled the Sun- 
King, took good care not to put on airs of triumph, 
and did not even appear at the receptions of the Tui- 
leries and Saint Cloud. The Duchess Victor de 
Broglie wrote, September 27, 1821 : — 

" Madame d'H^nin told me that the King decidedly 
has a passion for Madame du Cayla ; he receives her in 
private three hours at a time ; when he drives along 
the quay, she is at the window of her house ; he puts 
his head out through the door of the carriage to look 
lovingly at her." 

But this favor remained in the shade; its only 
theatre was the cabinet of the King; it never put 
itself in evidence in the greater apartments of the 
palace. The Duchess of Berry, on the other hand, 
flattered, venerated, adored, shone in the fullest lustre, 
and received homage which was almost a cult. 

The mother of the Duke of Bordeaux did not then 
seek to dominate ; she thought only of pleasing, and 

266 



THE EXD OF THE BEIGN 267 

always succeeded in it. Whenever there was any 
question of her the rival parties concluded, as it 
were, a truce of God. There were no calumnies, no 
slanders, against the amiable Princess; even the most 
hostile pamphlets may be searched in vain for a line, 
a word of criticism, against her. Although living at 
the Tuileries in the same pavilion with her father-in- 
law, she took no part whatever in the intrigues of 
the palace. She occupied herself in the education 
of her children, the cultivation of the arts, private 
entertainments, always elegant and select, and excur- 
sions where at every step she received ovations. Not 
having forgotten the wish often expressed by the 
Duke of Berry, that she should preserve a taste for 
study, she had again summoned the professors indi- 
cated by her husband. Her aptitude for music was 
admired by Paer, her instructor. She only needed 
to hear an air once in order to retain it. The piano 
and the harp, which succeeded each other, did not 
interfere with lessons in all other branches. 

The journey she made to Mont-Dore, early in Sep- 
tember, 1821, delighted the young Princess. By 
night the mountaineers accompanied her with fire- 
works and torches. She rode on horseback most 
courageously. She wore the costume of an Auver- 
gnat peasant which she had made for her. People 
sang ballads in patois for her and danced before her 
to the sounds of the bagpipe. She had a little beggar 
brought up to her apartment and amused herself with 
his chatter. Some one wrote to the Moniteur from 
Mont-Dore : — 



268 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

" When we saw the august Princess lightly Scram- 
bling up the sharp peaks of our mountains, we remem- 
bered that she had been born at the foot of Vesuvius, 
and found still another link between her and our 
Bdarnais." 

The Duchess of Berry at the end of Louis XVIII.'s 
reign was what the Duchess of Burgundy had been 
in the last years of that of Louis XIV. : the radiance, 
the poetry, the smile, of an old and severe court. She 
represented the future, hope, the rising sun. In a 
ceremonious, cold, and self-contained society, she was 
the living symbol of gaiety, recreation, and pleasure. 

The Duchess Victor de Broglie, Avho saw the royal 
family at the end of September, 1821, gave at the 
time the following description of it : — 

" Day before yesterday I was at court, and found 
myself all alone amongst those old figures, which 
rather frightened me. The King was rolled in in his 
armchair. He has a singular physiognomy. In spite 
of his size, he has a great deal of dignity ; in spite of 
his round, red face, he has the royal air. There is 
no sort of agreement between his mouth and his eyes ; 
his smile is constant, but his glance is so severe as to 
be hard. He is a witty man after the fashion of the 
old regime ; he says characteristic things, but that is 
all. Madame the Duchess of Angouleme has nobility 
without grace; she holds herself awkwardly; her 
voice sounds rough ; she is badly dressed, and yet she 
has dignity. Her eyes are red, perhaps because she 
has wept so much, but that increases the grave impres- 



THE END OF THE JREIGN 269 

sion her face produces. The Duke of Augouleme is 
ungainly and awkward; he is always on the move, 
and tries to be facetious, but his intentions are more 
kindly than those of the others." 

Then comes a portrait of the Duchess of Berry, 
whose attraction the Duchess Victor de Broglie 
could not fail to recognize, notwithstanding her 
unfavorable opinion of the elder branch of the 
Bourbons : — 

'' As to the Duchess of Berry, she no longer looks at 
all unhappy; but it is difficult to conceive how greatly 
sorrow has developed her ; she is much more grace- 
ful ; she is less timid. Although her eyes squint, they 
are not disagreeable ; her color is beautiful, and her 
shoulders charming ; although a blonde, there is some- 
thing southern about her which attracts." 

The Duchess of Berry was proud of her son, who 
must, as she thought, procure the welfare and glory 
of France. She did not consider the dove, bearing 
in its beak an olive branch, which figured in the ark- 
shaped cradle offered to the little Prince by the city 
of Bordeaux, as an idle symbol. On her son's first 
birthda}^, September 29, 1821, she received a picture 
which represented him as parting the clouds above a 
misty sphere, and treading on the serpent of discord. 
In November of the same year there was talk of a 
pretended conspiracy, which was to break out in the 
Bois de Boulogne at the time when the little Prince 
and his sister were taking their usual promenadeo 
The governess of the chikben of France did not 



270 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

think it lier duty to countermand their promenade. 
When the Duchess of Berry was informed of it, she 
exclaimed^ " Madame de Gontaut did perfectly right! 
The Duke of Bordeaux ought never to flinch at any- 
thing, not even at a year old." 

Naturally inclined to optimism, the Princess looked 
forward to the future with perfect confidence. Her 
family had just been firmly established on the throne 
of the Two Sicilies. An Austrian army had entered 
Naples, March 23, 1821, and King Ferdinand had 
resumed the exercise of absolute power there. On 
the 2d of May following, a handful of Austrian sol- 
diers had extinguished the Piedmontese insurrection. 
The reaction was triumphant throughout Italy, and 
reactionary politics were likewise going to prevail in 
France. 

The year 1822 was troubled at first. Military 
conspiracies, the introduction of Carbonarism into 
France, the alliance betw^een the Liberals and the 
Bonapartists, the agitation in the schools, the vio- 
lence of parliamentary discussions, the profound 
emotion caused by the execution of the four ser- 
geants of Rochelle, all revealed a grave situation. 
But the Right got the ascendency, and the Restora- 
tion seemed more solid than ever. " The bloody 
holocausts attained their end," says Duke Victor 
de Broglie in his Souvenirs; "there were no more 
plots when it Avas well understood that one risked 
his head in them ; the more recklessness the official 
conspirators had shown about engaging in these fool- 



THE END OF THE BEIGN 271 

hardy enterprises, the more haste they now showed 
in retiring from them or disavowing them." 

The birth of the Duke of Bordeaux had greatly 
discouraged the revolutionary party. On September 
29, 1822, Count de Chabrol, prefect of the Seine, 
presented to the King the medals which the city of 
Paris had caused to be struck for the second anni- 
versary of this celebrated birth. 

" Sire," said the prefect, " there are some memo- 
rable epochs the souvenir of which the city of Paris 
likes to preserve in an imperishable manner. The 
medal it has caused to be struck for the birth of the 
Duke of Bordeaux represents this noble city as offer- 
ing to France the noble child granted to our prayers. 
He seems to have issued from the bosom of the 
grave. He comes to gladden royal Majesty, to con- 
sole sorrows, and to pierce with a mild radiance the 
funereal crape which covers our native land. Brought 
up beside his mother, and under the eyes of the wisest 
monarchs, this young son of kings will learn from 
your example. Sire, the difficult art of cementing 
the union and founding the prosperity of a people. 
Live long for his sake I Live long for the sake of 
France." 

Louis XVIIL replied : — 

'' I receive with lively satisfaction the expression of 
the sentiments of my good city of Paris. The day 
whose anniversary it celebrates was the most fortu- 
nate of my life. In France also it began an era of 
happiness. I hope that we shall long enjoy it." 



272 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

The year 1823, when Bourbons simultanet)usly 
triumphed at Madrid, Paris, and Naples, and when 
the family compact seemed renewed by victory, was 
the apogee of royalty. Chateaubriand has said, not 
without some exaggeration : — 

" My Spanish war, the great event of my life-, was 
a gigantic enterprise. Legitimacy was for the first 
time to burn powder under the white flag, to dis- 
charge its first cannon after the artillery of the 
Empire, which the latest posterity will hear. To 
stride across the Spains at one step, to succeed on 
the same soil where the armies of a conqueror had 
but lately met reverses, to do in six months what he 
had not been able to do in seven years, who could 
have dared aspire to such a prodigy? Yet that is 
what I did." 

The success of the war in Spain flattered the roy- 
alists all the more because the Opposition had loudly 
declared that such a success was impossible. This 
war had from the first excited the ardent enthusiasm 
of the Right. What acclamations, what transports, 
had greeted Louis XVIII. when, in opening the 
session at the Louvre, in the hall of the guards of 
Henri IV., he had said : " One hundred thousand 
Frenchmen, commanded by a prince of my family, 
him whom my heart takes pleasure in styling my 
son, are ready to march, invoking the God of Saint 
Louis to preserve the throne of Spain for a grandson 
of Henri IV., ... I have consulted the dignity 
of my crown and the honor and dignity of France. 



THE END OF THE UEIGN 273 



We are Frenchmen, gentlemen ; we are always of 
one mind in defendino- such interests." 

The Duchess Victor de Broglie, always sarcastic, 
was present at this session, which she has thus 
described : — 

" I was surrounded by women who seemed very 
much excited ; the hall had been filled with people 
belonging to the court. 

"When the diplomatic corps arrived, it was 
remarked that the English ambassador was not 
among them ; several women near me said, ' Do you 
see? he is not there; he would not come I ' Others 
said, ' We must hope it is an accident.' There was 
complete anarchy among all these women; they 
stood up on the benches, although the ushers 
ordered them down ; all this seemed the image of 
a party at once arrogant and popular. 

" The King was announced ; presently a great 
noise was heard; it Avas his armchair being rolled 
into the hall. Then all the women began trying to 
shout, as if they had been in the street. . . . The 
King pretended to be moved when he said the Duke 
of Angouleme and one hundred thousand Frenchmen 
were ready to march. That was a farce ; but what 
was real was the ridiculous yet tragical contrast of 
that bowed head, half stricken with apoplexy ; that 
impotent figure, dragged about in an armchair; that 
cracked voice, which spoke of delivering battle and 
imposing its laws on its neighbors. The shouts 
redoubled afterwards, especially those of the women. 



274 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

The Duchess of Beny was all the time applaiicling 
the King's discourse. The Duchess of Angouleme 
said nothing, and was very sad." 

The war in Spain was a victorious walk-over for 
the army of the Duke of Angouleme. That modest 
Prince might have said like the haughty Caesar, 
" Ve7ii, vidi, vici,^^ While he was advancing to the 
other side of the Pyrenees, his virtuous wife was 
making a journey in the west and south of France, 
which was a series of ovations for her. She left 
Paris for Bordeaux, April 2, 1823, after bidding 
an affectionate farewell to the children of France, 
who were dear to her. Bordeaux, her favorite city, 
received her as a sort of divinity. They took the 
horses from her carriage and drew it themselves. 
Her bust was carried through the streets to the 
beating of drums. At the Custom House she saw 
that of her husband under a triumphal arch, with 
this inscription : — 

*' Spain welcomed him; in his turn he saves her." 

At Montauban, May 3, she learned that Saragossa 
was taken. She entered the former city of the Popes 
under a triumphal arch on which this motto was 
graven : — 

" Avignon receives with transport the guardian angel of France." 

The same ovations were repeated at Nimes, Aix, 
Montpellier, Cette, Narbonne, and Marseilles. On 
visiting at Pau, June 27, the chamber in which 



THE END OF THE BEIGN 275 

Henri IV. was born, tlie Princess said : '' It was 
here that Queen Jeanne sang her little chanson ; 
afterwards, they rubbed the Prince's lips with garlic, 
and made him drink Jurangon wine. They did the 
same thing to the Duke of Bordeaux. He is very 
strong; he is a very fine child, the Duke of Bor- 
deaux." The courtiers claimed that the presence of 
the daughter of Louis XVI. in the south of France 
was alone equivalent to an army of observation. 
July 18, she arrived unexpectedly at Bagneres-de- 
Luchon, on horseback, by the mountain road. Then 
she returned to Bordeaux, and, before going back to 
Paris, she traversed all Vendee. From one place 
to another, the old Vendean soldiers had assembled 
to greet her with acclamations. September 18, she 
mounted on horseback and went to the hill called 
the Mont-des-AUouettes, whence a large body of the 
Vendean military were discovered. Hymns and 
psalms were sung. The silver crosses of the priests 
and the parish banners glittered in the sunlight. 
The whole crowd kneeled down Avhen, on the sum- 
mit of the hill, the Princess laid the first stone of a 
chapel to be dedicated to the Virgin. 

At Nantes the Duchess saw with profound emo- 
tion a statue of her father on the Place Louis Seize. 
Her tears flowed freely. " Thanks," said she to the 
mayor and the prefect, " thanks for the homage you 
have rendered to virtue. The people of Nantes are 
the first who have erected a statue to ni}^ father ; I 
shall never forget it while I live." The market- 



276 THE DUCHESS OF BEBEY 

women, who brought bouquets for her, threw them- 
selves on their knees before the daughter of the 
martyr-King and made the sign of the cross. 

In the eyes of the royalists, who made a cult of 
their opinions, the French monarchy was identified 
with two women, one of whom represented its past 
and the other its future : the orphan of the Temple, 
and the mother of the Child of Miracle. While the 
Duchess of Angouleme was visiting heroic Vendue, 
the Duchess of Berry celebrated the third anniversary 
of her son's birth. The little Prince, who had been 
vowed to white until his fourth year, put on colors 
for the first time that day. He came to breakfast 
with his family in a blue suit, wearing the arms pre- 
sented by his grandfather, and giving his arm to 
Mademoiselle his sister, who was a year older than 
he. The little Princess seemed very proud of her 
cavalier's appearance. At dessert, the Prince of Leon 
took the Duke of Bordeaux in his arms, and the 
child, holding a glass in his hand, exclaimed, " To 
the health of the King, my uncle, and all my brave 
soldiers." 

At this time all things seemed favorable to the 
Restoration. On August 31 the Duke of Angou- 
leme had seized the fort of Trocadero, after some 
brilliant fighting. On October 1 the Cortes surren- 
dered the city of Cadiz and set the King of Spain 
at liberty. Ferdinand VII. went to Port Sainte- 
Marie where he awaited his deliverer, the Duke of 
Angouleme. The Bourbon of France knelt on one 



TUE END OF THE REIGN 277 

knee to receive the Bourbon of Spain, and offered 
him the sword which had just opened his prison 
doors. Then the two descendants of Louis XIV. 
embraced each other. When the Duchess of Anofou- 
leme was apprised of the result of the war, she 
exchiimed, " It is proved, then, that there is a possi- 
bility of rescuing an unfortunate king ! " 

The Duke of Angouleme re-entered the Tuileries 
in triumph, December 2, 1823. Louis XVIII. took 
him in his arms, praised " his conduct, his prudent 
modesty in success," and conducted him to the 
Pavilion of the Horloge to show him to the crowd, 
in the midst of general acclamations. December 
15, the Hotel de Ville gave a magnificent fete in 
honor of the victor of Trocadero. The princes and 
princesses were served at table by Count de Chabrol, 
prefect of the Seine, and the wives of the municipal 
body. The Countess of Chabrol sat down for a 
moment at the banquet, and presently rose again in 
order to stand behind the Duchess of Angouleme. 
After the repast Their Highnesses passed into a hall 
where a frieze of plaster bas-reliefs had been placed, 
representing the principal events of the war in Spain, 
and certain episodes of the Duchess of Angouleme's 
travels in the south of France. The Princess bowed, 
and said modestly, " I do not think I ought to occupy 
a place beside so many great actions." The prefect 
of the Seine addressed a discourse to the victorious 
Prince. He said: — 

" How beautiful are these laurels ! How dear they 



278 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

must be to the heart of a father who is the finished 
type of a man, to the heart of a spouse whose noble 
enthusiasm seems like a ray of heaven coming to 
animate all things, to the magnanimous mother of 
these august children on whom rests the future of 
the Empire of Saint Louis I The palm belongs to all. 
All are united in the same love. This immortal palm 
belongs above all to the King ; to the King whose 
voice resounded from the height of his throne ; to the 
King from whom all good things emanate ! Perhaps 
he was unwilling, on this day, to share and so diminish 
the eclat of a conqueror ; but it was in vain. The 
royal crown shines brilliantly before all eyes. Yes, 
Sire, Your Majesty, though absent, fills to their 
utmost these vast porticos." 

The Count of Artois spoke next : — 

" Gentlemen," said he, " in the few words I am 
about to say, pardon the emotion I experience. It 
is the glory of my son that is concerned ; it is the 
glory of French arms. Could one doubt that my 
son would not accomplish the mission laid on him by 
our King, to fight, to vanquish, and to pacify ? " 

Here the applause broke out so vehemently that 
the Prince found himself too much affected to con- 
tinue speaking. 

A stage had been erected at the back of the 
Throne Room. Here an interlude was played, the 
words by M. Alissan de Chazet and the music by 
Boieldieu. The scene represented a public place 
with an arch of triumph, on the front of which was 



THE END OF THE BEIGN 279 

written : To the army of the Pyrenees. A young 
officer, decorated, had just come to throw himself 
into his father's arms and tell him the exploits of tlie 
victor of Trocadero. Two Vendean women told 
the tale of the Duchess of Angouleme's journey in 
the loyal province. Afterwards the name of the 
Duke of Bordeaux was pronounced : " God gave 
him, God has preserved him." A general officer 
made his appearance. A crown of laurels was 
offered him, and he laid it on the bust of the King. 
After the interlude there was a grand ball. The 
Duchess of Berry danced two quadrilles ; one with 
the Prince of Carignan, and the other with M. Mallet. 
The royalists were convinced that they had finally 
won the day, and in the midst of his sufferings 
Louis XVIII. was consoled by the thought that his 
work was consolidated. The royal family was much 
more united than at the beginning of the Restora- 
tion. The antagonism between the two brothers had 
almost^ entirely disappeared. The Count of Artois, 
thinking that Louis XVIII. had reached the term of 
his life, had the good taste not to show any impa- 
tience to reign. Moreover, he had already obtained 
some great satisfactions. Under Villele as minister, 
his friends had come into power, and he himself was 
like a coadjutor to the King. The elections of 1824 
had given the Right an enormous majority. The 
Left, which had had one hundred and ten members 
in the last Chamber of Deputies, had only nineteen 
in the new one, and the royalists celebrated their 
victory with noisy rejoicings. 



280 THE DUCHESS OF BEBRY 

The session opened at tlie Louvre, March 23, 
1824. Then, with a weakened but always solemn 
voice, the old monarch said : " France has no more 
to fear from the state of the Peninsula, hencefor- 
ward returned to its King and reconciled with 
Europe. This triumph of a most righteous enter- 
prise is due to the bravery and discipline of the 
French army, so worthily commanded by a Prince 
of the royal house." Frenzied acclamations broke 
forth. Never since the re-establishment of royalty 
had the speech from the throne announced so pros- 
perous a state of affairs within and without. 

Unfortunately, the sovereign whose wisdom might 
have rendered such prosperity durable was growing 
weak as fast as his realm seemed to be growing 
strong. On returning from the royal session, the 
Prime Minister, M. de Villele, wrote in his memo- 
randum book : — 

" I was on hot coals while the King was delivering 
his opening speech, so well aware was I of his feeble- 
ness, what difficulty he had in reading it well, and 
how impossible he had found it to learn it by heart, 
as he had done in former years. I knew what alarm 
and disorder the fear of a change of kings under 
such circumstances and in a session devoted to such 
serious questions would cause in everyone's mind. 
The courage of the King, and his mastery over him- 
self, aided him in surmounting these difficulties. The 
decline in his physical strength was hardly percep- 
tible ; his moral force was perfect." 



TUE END OF THE BEIGN 281 

In July, in spite of the aggravation of his disease, 
it was hoped that Louis XVIII. might still have 
several months to live, and the Duchess of Berry 
was able to make an excursion into Normandy which 
became a triumphal progress. Leaving Saint-Cloud 
at five in the morning, July 22, she arrived at Rouen 
at eight in the evening of the same day. The Norman 
capital gave her some magnificent fetes. Before 
entering the city, the Princess had made a halt in 
the fields. The Moniteur said : — 

"It was a singular and touching spectacle to see 
the Daughter of Kings surrounded by peasants of both 
sexes in their harvesters' frocks, who policed them- 
selves by means of long white wands. Young and 
beautiful women, wearing the costume of the country, 
scattered flowers at the feet of the august traveller." 

At ten in the evening of July 31 the Princess 
arrived at Dieppe, which was to become one of her 
favorite stopping-places. A letter from Dieppe which 
appeared in the Moniteur says : — 

" From five in the afternoon an extraordinary com- 
motion was noticeable in the town. To see the kind 
of disorder prevailing in every street, the going and 
coming of the inhabitants, the National Guards rushing 
to arms, the troops hastening to their posts from every 
direction, one would think the enemy was at the 
gates of the town. It was an angel who was coming 
towards our walls, preceded by the joy and happiness 
her presence must inspire." 

The Duchess of Berry said to the mayor : " I see 



282 THE DUCHESS OF BERBY 

very well that Henri IV. was right when he cailed 
the people of Dieppe his good friends. I shall imitate 
my ancestor in his love for you." Several young 
ladies of Dieppe offered her a little ivory ship, called 
Saint Ferdinand^ which was the name of the vessel 
that had brought her from Naples to France in 1816. 
The fishermen's wives from Pollet were admitted to 
her presence in their picturesque costume : a short 
petticoat reaching a trifle lower than their knees, 
men's buckled shoes, a striped red and white apron, 
an enormous headdress, and large earrings. 

During the three weeks the amiable Princess stayed 
there, Dieppe was extraordinarily animated and bril- 
liant. A ball-room had been built expressly for her,, 
in which comedies were also performed. The G-ym- 
nase was the Parisian theatre specially protected by 
the Duchess of Berry ; the witty and amusing little 
plays of Scribe and his collaborators were given there. 
The mayor of Dieppe engaged the best actors of this 
theatre to give twenty-one representations; every 
second day they played in the hall specially con- 
structed for the Princess, and on the intermediate 
days in the town theatre for the public. People 
hastened from all the neighboring villages and castles 
to pay their homage to the mother of the Duke of 
Bordeaux. August 2, the Municipal Council gave her 
a ball which Avas a marvel of elegance. Dieppe was 
thenceforward the fashion. August 23, the enchanting 
Princess left this town which had been charmed by 
her grace, and on the 25th she congratulated Louis. 
XVIII. at the Tuileries on his fete day. 



XXIX 

THE DEATH OF LOUIS XVIII 

LOUIS XVIII. felt himself dying. He had told 
his ministers that he would give death a good 
reception, and while he was already nothing but a 
living corpse from the physical point of view, on 
the moral side he preserved an energy which does 
the greatest honor to his firmness of character. This 
admirer of Horace was about to die like a Stoic. As 
Lamartine has said, " The cool precision with which, 
in his most secret intimacy, he estimated the few 
days he had still to live, the solicitude with which 
he prescribed beforehand the measures to be taken 
for concealing his last moments, attest his possession 
of that reflective courage which is rarer than that 
proper to the battle-fields, the silent, philosophic 
courage, without excitement and without illusion, 
which sees the sepulchre at the foot of the throne, 
and which drapes itself in order to go down into it 
with dignity." 

It was evident from the spring of 1824 that the 
King had only a few months longer to live. " The 
last time that I saw Louis XVIIL," writes the 
Count of Puymaigre, "was at the close of 1824, when 

283 



284 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

I was admitted to what is called a special audientje. 
According to his usual custom, he was sitting at a 
table whose covering came down to the carpet, and 
left nothing visible but the upper part of his body, 
the coquetry of an old man who wants to hide his 
defects. He was no longer the same man ; that 
appearance of force, that piercing glance, that sono- 
rous voice, which always provoked positive replies, 
were gone. One could but remark, on the contrary, 
the alteration in his features, and a sort of drowsi- 
ness, always a fatal symptom in an old man in whom 
the springs of a non-natural and artificially prolonged 
life are about to break. His phrases, to be sure, had 
their usual lucidity, but he uttered them with diffi- 
culty, and seemed absorbed in painful preoccupations. 
I took the risk of reminding him of the recent suc- 
cesses of his army in Spain ; then a light seemed to 
flit across that noble countenance ; the King sat up 
and seemed to grow large in his armchair ; and as if 
he had caught a glimpse of the future, as if he had 
suddenly been initiated into the judgments of pos- 
terity, he exclaimed in a strong voice and with a sort 
of prophetic inspiration, ' Yes ; that will be a glorious 
page in my history ! ' And then his head fell pain- 
fully back on his shoulder, a smile passed across his 
lips, and I heard, or thought I heard, these words, 
uttered in a low and almost unintelligible voice, 
* For the last one ! ' I was still listening, moved by 
this imposing spectacle of royalty contending against 
death, when a sign of dismissal, that sign of the head 



THE BEATU OF LOUIS XVIII 285 

which, with princes, means, ' Go away ! ' restored me 
to a sense of my position. I hastened my obeisances 
and departed." 

This moribund man, who by dint of believing in his 
own principles had ended by making them believed 
by others, wished to die as he had lived, a king. He 
was often heard to quote the saying of Vespasian, 
" An emperor should die standing. Oportet impera- 
torem stantem moynT He had himself carried, in 
the midst of summer, from Saint-Cloud to the 
Tuileries, so that he might yield his last breath in 
the palace which had been like the sanctuary 
of royal power. The sessions of the ministerial 
councils took place as usual. He remained drowsy 
or sleeping, but he presided. He rode out as usual 
in his carriage, so enfeebled and so greatly changed, 
that people complained when they saw him passing 
in such a sorry condition, and the parties accused 
the ministers of obliging a dying monarch to go out, 
in order to deceive the public and retain their 
portfolios. 

Louis XVIII. would make no change whatever in 
his official life. " It is permissible for a king to be 
dead," said he, " but he is forbidden to be sick." It 
was sought in vain to induce him to countermand 
the reception of August 25, the day of his fete. He 
sat on his throne as in former years, received the 
felicitations of all the constituted bodies, and replied 
to the harangue of the prefect of the Seine with as 
much precision and good grace as if he had been in 



286 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

perfect health. As Lamartme has said again, " until 
the extinction of his forces, he compelled himself to 
preserve the attitude, the look, the presence of mind, 
the smile, of his reception days; he endured for 
several hours the torture of this long dissimulation 
of his approaching death. It was only at the end 
that his pains and his drowsiness trium]Dhed over the 
firmness of his soul. His shrunken and pallid head 
drooped on his breast and almost touched his knees ; 
he fell into a slumber which was like prostration. 
The latest courtiers who silently passed before the 
foot of his armchair thought they were passing the 
shadow of death. He was carried back to his apart- 
ments, still sleeping. His obstinate firmness had 
increased the public alarm that he had wished to 
dispel." On the 27th and 28th of August he still 
had the energy to ride out as far as Choisy. 

September 2, M. de Yillele presented himself in the 
King's cabinet to perform a commission intrusted to 
him by the Duke of Orleans. The first Prince of the 
blood pointed out that his eldest son, the Duke of 
Chartres, born September 3, 1810, was about to attain 
his fourteenth year. Now, according to the usages 
of the monarchy, he added, the blue ribbon had been 
acquired by his son by that very fact, all the young 
princes placed in the same position having been 
decorated with it at that age, and notably the Duke 
of Enghien. ''I found the King hardly able to 
hold up his head," wrote M. de Yillele in his memo- 
randum book, " and I was obliged to bend down my 



THE DEATH OF LOUIS XVIII 287 

own over his desk in order not to lose his reply. Pie 
answered me without hesitation : ' You will say to M. 
the Duke of Orleans that he is mistaken ; that what he 
asks for is not due until the fifteenth year, and that I 
shall never do anything for him except what is due 
to him. The example he cites condemns his claim. 
The Duke of Enghien ' — and he gave with astonish- 
ing precision the day, month, and year of his birth — 
' did not have the blue ribbon until the day of his 
fifteenth year came round ' — and again he cited 
the date. ' M. the Duke of Chartres will not have 
it until a year from to-morrow.' " M. de Villele 
adds to this account : " Such a memory, such pres- 
ence of mind, and such resolution with such great 
physical weakness would seem impossible to one who 
had not, like myself, witnessed it." 

On September 7 Louis XVIII. again received the 
diplomatic corps. On the 10th he was very evidently 
worse. On that day M. de Villele wrote : — 

" The King is no longer able to hold up his head, 
which was all bruised by falling on the sharp edge 
of his desk. I had observed to his attendants the 
night before that a cushion would be necessary 
for him ; they had offered him one and been rudely 
repulsed. Seeing the King's forehead bruised and 
his face bloody, I ventured to ask his permission to 
have a cushion brought ; I added that I had to con- 
sult him on an important matter concerning which it 
was necessary that he should have the goodness to 
give me directions, which would be impossible if his 



288 THE DUCHESS OF BEEEY 

head were not high enough for me to hear wha?t he 
said. He made a sign of approval; I opened the 
cabinet, and a pillow was brought, which allowed me 
to hear what the King chose to say to me, without 
any difficulty. On leaving the King, I went to 
Monsieur, and I reassembled the Council to confer 
on this painful situation." 

The energy manifested by the dying king in ful- 
filling his part as sovereign to his latest hour can be 
estimated from the fact that at the time when he was 
still presiding at ministerial councils, the gangrene 
which was gnawing his feet had already devoured 
tlie toes. 

" The death of Louis XVIII.," Marshal Marmont 
has written, " is one of the most admirable spectacles 
I ever beheld. His courage, his resignation, and his 
calmness were extraordinary. He looked his end in 
the face without anxiety and without terror. . . . He 
asked Portal, his principal physician, if his last 
moments would be attended by great suffering and a 
long stay in his bed. Portal replied: 'Sire, 3'ou 
will suffer little, and you will die in your bed if you 
choose ; in any case, you ^vill not stay long in bed.' 
This poor king sank down gradually, and to such a 
point that he was bent almost into a circle, with his 
chin close to his knees. His life was almost extinct, 
and he continued to fulfil the apparent duties of 
royalty." 

Meanwhile, no one ventured as yet to publish 
bulletins of his health, nor to ask him to go to con- 



THE DEATH OF LOVIS XVIII 289 

fession. He had accustomed his family to such a 
timid deference toward him that neither his brother, 
his nephew, nor his niece, in spite of their great piety, 
spoke to him about his religious duties. The Viscount 
Sosthene de La Rochefoucauld persuaded them that 
no one but the Countess of Cayla could undertake 
this delicate mission. 

Marshal Marmont says in his memoirs : " Saturday, 
September 11, the King again breakfasted with us ; 
at least, he came to table and sat in his usual place. 
This was the first day that he had moments of absent- 
mindedness. I don't know what disagreeable thing 
he did to Madame the Duchess of Angouleme. Com- 
ing to himself, he noticed it, and said to her with 
admirable calmness and an angelic gentleness : 'Niece, 
when one is dying, he does not know very well what 
he is about.' 

'' Madame du Cayla saw him for the last time that 
day, and she did not leave his cabinet with empt}^ 
hands. She presented for his signature an order to 
buy the h6tel de Montmorency, on the quay, for her ; 
and he, blind and dying, made a formless scrawl at 
the bottom of it which was accepted as a regular 
signature by the minister of his household, the 
Duke of Doudeauville. This hotel, bought directly 
from Marshal Mortier, and paid for in ready money 
to the amount of seven hundred thousand francs, 
became the property of Madame du Cayla." This final 
liberality on the part of Louis XVIII. has caused 
M. de Lamartine to say : " Never had a prince calum- 



290 THE DUCHESS OF BEBBY 

iiiously accused of insensibility and egotism ,more 
need of tenderness, and never did one more obsti- 
nately devote his earliest and his latest days to the 
charms and even to the servitudes of his attach- 
ments. Until his last hour he busied himself with 
the lot he sought to assure after his death for her 
whom he loved." 

The Countess of Cayla, however, while attending 
to her personal interests, had not forgotten the relig- 
ious mission entrusted to her. In this final interview 
with the dying King she induced him to send for a 
priest. The Abbe Rocher was summoned immedi- 
ately, and Louis XVIII. made his confession. It 
was time ; for that evening the King no longer had 
strength to give the countersign, which he had 
always done till then. 

The next day, September 12, it was plain that 
the catastrophe was at hand. The Prince who was 
about to style himself Charles X. sent a courier 
to Eu with the following letter for the Duke of 
Orleans : — 

"Paris, September 12, 1824, 2 p.m. — The weak- 
ness of the King has increased so much since yester- 
day, my dear cousin, that I find myself under the 
painful necessity of sending a courier to ask you to 
return hither as soon as possible, without, however, 
causing any detriment to the health of your wife and 
sister. Pity me, my dear cousin, my heart is torn 
with grief ; but I hope God will give me the strength 
of which I have, and, alas ! of which I shall have, 



THE DEATH OF LOUIS XVIII 291 



perhaps, so mucli need. I say nothing more, so as to 
hasten the departure of my letter. You have long 
known my ancient and constant friendship for you 
and your family. — Charles Philippe." 

On the same day, Sunday, September 12, Mgr. 
de Qu(^len, Archbishop of Paris, issued a charge 
in wliich he said : — 

" In vain would we seek to hide it from you ; in 
vain through love for his people, has our august and 
religious monarch, overcoming his pains with a rare 
magnanimity and admirable constancy, sought to 
resist the efforts and the progress of his malady, and 
as it were to survive himself, in order not to disturb 
by premature alarms the repose and happiness which 
his wisdom has been able to maintain throughout the 
kingdom. Tlie moment has come Avhen nature is 
forced to recognize its weakness under the powerful 
hand of Him who strikes and who heals, who gives 
and who takes away the health of princes. What- 
ever, my dearest brethren, may be the impenetra- 
ble designs of God, faith and love summon us to 
the foot of His altars. Our hope cannot be deceived ; 
Frenchmen, if we cannot save the King, we can at 
least associate ourselves with him in his last struggle. 
We desire to aid him to wdn the immortal crown, and 
to open for him, by the weapons of prayer, that celes- 
tial city wherein so many saints of his nol)le race are 
already reigning, and where, seated beside them, he 
will become, like them, the protector of the mon- 
archy." 



1 



292 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY 

Louis XVIII. was still unwilling, on that day, to 
go to bed. As he was strongly urged to do so, 
" That," said he, " would be an advertisement that 
my death is near; then, until it comes, the theatres 
would be closed and the Bourse likewise. Every- 
thing suspended ; it is a great thing, the death of a 
king of France ! Something must be done so that 
the burden shall weigh on the people as short a time 
as possible." In the evening of that Sunday, Sep- 
tember 12, 1824, he lay down never to rise again. 

No bulletin of his health had as yet been issued. 
The first of them did not appear until Monday morn- 
ing, September 13. They were dated on the previ- 
ous day, and signed by six doctors and the Count of 
Damas, first gentleman of the chamber. The first 
ran as follows : — 

"At the Tuileries, September, 12, 1824, 6 a.m. — 
The old and permanent infirmities of the King have 
perceptibly increased for some time past. His health 
has seemed more profoundly impaired, and has been 
the subject of more frequent consultations. His 
.Majesty's constitution and the cares bestowed on 
him encouraged for some days the hope that his 
health might be restored to its ordinary condition ; 
but to-day it can no longer be doubted that his forces 
are considerably diminished, and that the hopes enter- 
tained for him must also dwindle." 

The second bulletin was worded thus : — 

" Sunda}^, September 12, 9 p.m. — The fever has 
augmented throughout the day. Great cold in the 



THE DEATH OF LOUIS XVIII 293 

extremities has supervened ;, the weakness has in- 
creased, and also the drowsiness ; the pulse always 
feeble and irregular." 

These bulletins dispelled all illusions. The Minis- 
ter of Finance ordered the Bourse to be closed until 
further orders, after Monday, September 13, and 
no performances were given in any of the theatres. 
A crowd gathered from early morning in the court 
and garden of the Tuileries. News was anxiously 
demanded, and the churches were crowded with the 
faithful who came to pray for the King. At eight in 
the morning, the grand almoner, followed by the 
cure of Saint Germain I'Auxerrois and the clergy of 
this chapel, was seen to enter the palace. Pious 
souls joined their intentions to the ceremony about to 
be celebrated in the apartments. The King received 
the last sacraments from the hand of the grand 
almoner, in presence of the royal family, the grand 
chamberlain, the great officers of the household, the 
Prince of Castelcicala, ambassador of the Two Sicilies, 
the president of the Council, and all the domestics. 
During this time the crowd was increasing under 
the sovereio-n's chamber windows. The interest it 
felt in him showed itself very manifestly when, after 
the ceremony, the Duchess of Angouleme was seen 
at the foot of the staircase as she was returning from 
the dying man, her eyes bathed in tears. 

The King, who had given his blessing in the 
morning to his brother, his nephew, and his niece, 
and also to the Duchess of Berry, wished to bid 



294 THE DUCHESS OF BERRT M 

adieu to the children of France. They cama from 
Saint Cloud with their governess, Madame de 
Gontaut. "I received an order," she writes, "to take 
the Princes to the King. He seemed to me ex- 
tremely feeble. Sending them away very soon, he 
desired to embrace them. I lifted the Duke of Bor- 
deaux up to him. I heard him say in a very low 
tone, ' Poor child I Mayest thou be more fortunate 
than we ! ' Meanwhile Mademoiselle was looking 
for his hand to kiss it. I trembled lest she should 
find his feet, which were in a frightful state. He 
caused me profound i^ity. I experienced a grief so 
sincere that I could hardly restrain my tears. On 
reaching the door, I looked at him again, and felt 
that it was for the last time. The children were sad 
when we returned to Saint Cloud." When they 
re-entered their carriage in the court of the Tuileries, 
the crowd hastened towards them, crying, " Long live 
the King ! Long live the Bourbons I " 

The bulletin of September 14 announced that the 
King's breathing was becoming more painful and 
interrupted, that his pulse was growing weaker 
and intermittent, and that the prayers for the dying 
had already been recited in his chamber, in presence 
of the royal family. At the moment when this was 
going on, he recovered consciousness, and hearing a 
priest say to him, "Sire, unite yourself to the inten- 
tion of my prayers," he replied, "I do not think 
I have got to that point yet ; but no matter ; 
continue I " 



THE DEATH OF LOUIS XVIII 295 

The bulletins of September 15 allowed the public 
to follow the progress of this slow and noble agony. 
Marshal Marmont had reason to say, " There is no great 
man whose life would not be honored by such a death. "^ 
On Thursday, September 16, at one o'clock in the 
morning, a messenger came to inform the Duke of 
Orleans that the King was at the last extremity. He 
repaired with the Duchess at once to the Tuileries. 
The dismal silence prevailing in the chamber of the 
dying man allowed his shoi't and oppressive breath- 
ing to be heard. All of a sudden nothing was heard. 
The doctors then took a lighted candle and brought 
it close to his mouth to assure themselves that at 
last he had ceased to suffer. The candle was not 
extinguished. The Duke of Angouleme approached 
Monsieur, who was in tears, and said, '' My father^ 
all is over." Overwhelmed in soul and bod}^, he 
who thenceforward called himself Charles X, seemed 
not to comprehend, until Count de Damas, advanc- 
ing toward him, exclaimed, " Sire, the King is dead." 
It w^as precisely four o'clock in the morning. The 
Duchess of Berry, who was present with the royal 
family at this great and sorrowful spectacle, was x^ro- 
foundly affected. What might have softened her 
regrets was the thought that she had never given 
Louis XVIII. a moment of chagrin, or even a trifling 
annoyance, and that she had never ceased to be a 
Princess according to the King's heart. 



INDEX 



Aix, festival of King Rene at, 51. 

Alexander, 1 ; letter of, to Louis 
XVIII. on the birth of the Duke 
of Bordeaux, 22(5. 

Augoulenie, Duke of, his return 
from his Spanish campaign, 277; 
fete in lionor of, 277. 

Angouleme, Duchess of, describes 
the household of the Duchess of 
Berry, 30 ; importunes the King 
to dismiss Decazes, 180; makes 
a journey in the South of France, 
274 ; her emotion at her father's 
statue at Nantes, 275. 

Artois, Count of, his reception of 
the Baron of Vitrolles' sugges- 
tion as to his marrying again, 
176; insists on the dismissal of 
Decazes, 181, 189; letter of, to 
the Duke of Orleans on the 
King's approaching death, 290. 

Bentinck, Lord, requires Marie 
Caroline to leave Sicily, 9. 

Beranger, Chanson of, 252. 

Berry, Duke of, his marriage pro- 
posed, 15 ; letter of, to his future 
wife, 16, 22 ; married by proxy, 
24; pecuniary arrangements of 
the Chamber of Deputies for, 24 ; 
letter of, to his wife at Mar- 
seilles, 35, 39, 55, 59; marriage 
of, in Notre Dame, 79; installed 
at the Elysee, 83; his person and 
character, 97 et seq.; premoni- 
tions of his fate, 114; affliction 
of, at the death of his son, 118; 
the birth of his daughter, Louise 
Marie Therese, 126; his senti- 



ments toward the Duke of Or- 
leans, 128; agreeable change in 
his character, 139 ; his goodness 
of heart, 140; the incident of 
Soubriard, 143; his freedom from 
personal fear, 144 ; Louvel deter- 
mines to kill him, 150; receives 
threatening letters, 152; at the 
Opera, 155; stabbed by Louvel, 
157 ; incidents of the assassina- 
tion, 158 et seq.; treatment of, 
by the physicians, 164 ; confesses, 
167 ; his daughters by Miss Brown 
summoned, 167 ; his death, 167 ; 
rage of the ultras against De- 
cazes, accused of complicity in 
the murder of, 179; his obse- 
quies, 185 et seq. 
Berry, Duchess of, her ancestry, 
1 et seq.; the members of her 
family, 26; her "epitome" of 
her early life, 2; extract from 
her journal, 5 ; her childhood, 7 ; 
meets the Duke of Orleans, 8; 
avoids Lord Bentinck, 10; la- 
ments the loss of her grand- 
mother, Marie Caroline, 11 ; por- 
trayed by the Countess of Agoult, 
13 ; her marriage to the Duke 
of Berry proposed, 15; extracts 
from her journal, 17 et seq.; the 
marriage contract, 18 ; her letter 
to the Duke of Berry, 21; the 
marriage of, by proxy, 24; at 
Caserta, 25; sails for France, 25 
et seq.; at the lazaretto of Mar- 
seilles, 29; extract from her 
journal, 27 ; her life at the laza- 
retto. 36 et seq. ; letter of, to the 

297 



298 



INDEX 



Duke of Berry, 37 ; enters Mar- 
seilles, 43 et seq.; ceremonial of 
her delivery to France, ^3et seq. ; 
excursion of, to Toulon, 48 et 
seq.; letter to the Duke, 48; 
journey of, to Fontainehleau, 50 ; 
present at the festival at Aix, 
51 ; at Vienne, 53 ; letter of, to 
the Duke, 54 ; arrival of, at Fon- 
tainehleau, 61 et seq. ; meets her 
hushand, 64 ; her entry into Paris, 
72 et seq.; the religious marriage 
at Notre Dame, 77 et seq.; cere- 
monies after the marriage, 81 ; 
produces an excellent impression 
in Paris, 83; keeps free from 
politics, 95; described by Pont- 
martin, 99 ; her life in Paris, 100 ; 
the birth of her first child, 104; 
burial of, 107 ; her elasticity and 
gaiety. 111 ; death of her sec- 
ond child, 117; takes lessons in 
music, 121; gives birth to her 
third child, 125 ; her happiness, 
142; her husband assassinated 
by Louvel, 157 ; her courage and 
devotion, 165; her grief, 171, 
192 ; goes to the Tuileries, 193 ; 
attempts to alarm her, 194 ; her 
dream that she would bear a 
son, 195 ; the birth of the Duke 
of Bordeaux, 210 ; the presence 
of mind of, 210 ; witnesses of the 
birth, 211 ; letter of, asking for 
the pardon of Bouton and Gra- 
vier, 223 ; receives the Diplo- 
matic Corps, 225 ; pilgrimage to 
Liesse, 253; journey to Mont- 
Dor e, 267 ; her pride in her son, 
269 ; her confidence in the future, 
270; excursion into Normandy, 
281 ; at Dieppe, 282. 

Bombelles, Abbe, funeral oration 
of, over the Princess Louise Isa- 
belle, 107. 

Bonaparte, Joseph, 6. 

Bonapartist officers, conspiracy of, 
202. 

Bordeaux, deputation from, to offer 



a cradle to the expected child of 
the Duchess of Berry, 205. 

Bordeaux, Duke of, his birth, 210 ; 
baptism of, 212; his household, 
215 ; public rejoicings over, 214 
et seq. ; his name and titles, 219; 
called the child of miracle, 220; 
receives Chambord as a gift from 
the nation, 236; public baptism 
of, 239 et seq. ; fete in honor of, 
at the Hotel de Ville, 247; his 
third anniversary, 276. 

Bourbons, triumph of, in 1823, 272. 

Broglie, Duke de, quoted, 182. 

Broglie, Duchess of, letter of, on 
the Countess of Cayla, 266; her 
description of the royal family, 
201, 268, 273. 

Caen, letter of the council of, to 
the King, 234. 

Calabria, Duke of, 2. 

Calonne, proposition of, to buy 
Chambord by subscription for . 
the Duke of Bordeaux, 233. 

Cayla, Countess of, her origin and 
early history, 257 ; presents her- 
self as a suppliant to the King, 
258 ; the infatuation of the King 
for, 261 et seq.; receives Saint 
Ouen from the King, 263 ; criti- 
cisms of, 264 ; sees the King for 
the last time, and receives the 
hotel de Montmorency, 289; in- 
duces him to send for a priest, 290. 

Chabrol, Count de, address of, 70. 

Chambord, Castle of, 229 et seq.; 
history of, 230; despoiled, 231; 
plan to present it to the Duke of 
Bordeaux, 233 ; not welcomed by 
the King, 234; bought for the 
Duke of Bordeaux, 236. 

Chartres, Duke of, 128. 

Chateaubriand, quoted, 94 ; on De- 
cazes and the murder of the 
Duke of Berry, 179, 183, 185, 187, 
219 ; on the Spanish war, 272. 

Court of Louis XVIII. , divergent 
elements in, 90 et seg. 



I 



INDEX 



299 



Courier, Paul Louis, combats the 
plau to buy Chambord, 2.')(). 

Coussei-i;ue.s, ]\L Clauscl-, attacks 
Decazcs as accomplice of the 
murder of the Duke of Berry, 
175. 

Damas, Baron de, 32. 

Daudet, Eruest, on Madame du 
Cayla, 2(J2. 

Decazes, Count, 90; early career of, 
132 ; Chateaubriand's opinion of, 
133 ; the secret of his success with 
Louis XVIIL, 13i ; the King's in- 
fatuation over, i;^; incurs the 
hatred of the ultras, 137 ; accused 
of complicity in the murder of 
the Duke of Berry, 175 ; dismissed 
by the King, 182. 

Dumas, Alexander, fils, 3. 

I^lysee, the Palace of, 96 ; the court 
of, 100. 

Ferdinand IV., King of Naples, 2, 

4 ; his bourgeois tastes, 14. 
Ferdinand VII. of Spain, takes 

oath to the Constitution, 202. 
Ferronnays, La, Countess of, 29; 

shuts herself up in the lazaretto 

with the Duchess of Berry, 33; 

outsteps her instructions, 34. 
Flags, distribution of, by the King 

on the Champ de Mars, 85 et seq. 
Fontainebleau, 57 et seq. 
Fre'milly, Baron of, letter on the 

entry of the Duchess of Berry 

into Paris, 72. 

Gontaut, Duchess of, extract from 
her Memoirs, 29 et seq. ; describes 
the festival at Aix, 51 ; describes 
the funeral of the Princess Louise 
Isabelle at Saint Denis, 109 ; lady 
of the bed-chamber to the Duchess 
of Berry, 112 ; intimacy of, with 
the Duke and Duchess of Berry, 
115 ; describes their life and 
amusements, 122 ; chosen as gov- 



erness for the expected infant of 
the Duchess of Berry, 123 ; sum- 
moned to carry Mademoiselle to 
her dying father, 103; describes 
the return of the Duchess of 
Berry, 171 ; her account of the 
baptism of the Duke of Bor- 
deaux, 239. 
Grcgoire, Count, not admitted as a 
deputy, i;30. 

Helfert, on the Duchess of Berry in 

her childhood, 7. 
Henri IV., statue of, inaugurated 

on the Pont Neuf, 115. 
Hotel de Ville, Paris, marriage of 

fifteen poor orphans at, 09. 
Huet, story of, 224. 
Hugo, Victor, verses of, on the 

Duke of Berry, 101, 190; poem 

to the Duchess of Berry, 203; 

dithyramb in honor of the Duke 

of Bordeaux, 220 ; celebrates his 

baptism, 251. 

Lafayette, speech of, quoted, 197. 

Lally, M. de, letter of, to Decazes, 
227. 

Lamartine, on the death of the 
Duke of Berry, 100 ; on the Coun- 
tess of Cayla and the King, 200 ; 
on the birth of the Duke of Bor- 
deaux, 220 ; on the King's energy 
of character, 283, 280 ; on his lib- 
erality, 289. 

Louis XVIIL, decree of, at Fon- 
tainebleau, 57; reply of, to the 
address of the Abbe Dubois, 74 ; 
distribution of flags by, 85; ri- 
valry between, and the Count of 
Artois, 89; discipline imposed by> 
on his court, IX); discontent of 
the royalists with, 92 et seq. ; his 
reply to tlie address of the Mar- 
quis de Marbois, 110; urges the 
Duchess de Gontaut to accept 
the position of governess to the 
young princess, 124 ; speech of, in 
opening the session of the Cham- 



800 



INDEX 



bers, 180; pleasure of, in the 
conversation of tlie Count De- 
cazes, 135; dismisses Decazes, 
182 ; present at tlie birth of the 
Duke of Bordeaux, 211 ; addresses 
the crowd, 215 ; and the Diplo- 
matic Corps, 225 ; at Notre Dame, 
at the baptism of the Dake of 
Bordeaux, 243; his need of a 
confidant, 256; the Countess of 
Cayla presented to him by De- 
cazes, 257, 260; his infatuation 
with her, 261 ; gives Saint Ouen 
to the Countess of Cayla, 263; 
courage of, in the face of death, 
283; refuses to be sick, 285; 
Villele's account of an interview 
with him, 286 ; sees the Countess 
of Cayla for the last time, 289 ; 
makes his confession, 290; bulle- 
tins respecting his failing health, 
292; bids adieu to the children 
of the Duke of Berry, 294; his 
death, 295. 

Louise Isabelle of Artois, birth of, 
104. 

Louise Marie Therese of Artois, 
birth of, 125. 

Louvel, Louis Pierre, his birth and 
career, 147 ; considers himself an 
avenger, 148 ; goes to Elba, 148 ; 
described by Lamartine, 149 ; de- 
termines to strike the Duke of 
Berry, 150 ; his oj^portunity, 153 ; 
stabs the Duke, 157 ; capture of, 
159; interrogated, 186; declara- 
tion of, 199 ; executed, 201 ; inci- 
dent concerning, 192. 



Marie Amelie meets the Duke of 
Orleans, 8. 

Marie Caroline, 2, 3; letter of, to 
Lady Hamilton, 5 ; banished from 
Naples by Napoleon, 6; detests 
the English, 9 ; her last days, 10. 

Marie Clementine, 4. 

Marie Isabelle, the Infanta, 6. 

Marcellus, M. de, outburst of, on 



the marriage of the Duke of 

Berry, 23. 
Marmont, Marshal, quoted, 211; 

on the death of Louis XVIII. , 288 ; 

on the fete to the Duke of Bor- 
deaux, 249. 
Marseilles, the Duchess of Berry 

in the lazaretto of, 29 ; informal 

entry into, 42 et seq. 
Mennechet, M., verses on the birth 

of the Duke of Bordeaux, 214. 
Mesnard, Count de, on the Duchess 

of Berry, 142. 
Moniteur, The, quoted, 50, 69, 71, 

105, 106, 115, 116, 119, 121, 124, 

129, 131, 173, 224. 
Murat, on the throne of Naples, 6. 

Napoleon banishes the Bourbons 

from Naples, 6 ; death of, 250. 
Nettement, M. Alfred, quoted, 6, 

88. 
Nodier, M. Charles, article of, on 

the Bourbons, 77. 
Notre Dame, marriage of the Duke 

and Duchess of Berry in, 79; 

ceremony of the baptism of the 

Duke of Bordeaux in, 243 et seq. 
Nuncio, Papal, address of, to the 

Duchess of Berry, 225. 

Orleans, Duke of, a refugee at the 
court of King Ferdinand, 8; at 
the King's death-bed, 295. 

Orleans, Duchess of, 127. 

Paris, agitation in, after the mur- 
der of the Duke of Berry, 198 
et seq. 

Philip v., 2. 

Pontmartin, his description of the 
Duchess of Berry, 99. 

Puymaigre, Count of, describes his 
last interview with the King, 283. 

Rambouillet, the royal family at, 

115. 
Rapp, General, grief of, at the 

cleath of Napoleon, 250. 



INDEX 



301 



Rcmusat, M. Charles de, on the 
marriage of the Duke of Berry, 
G8 ; on the entry of the Princess 
into Paris, 75, 84. 

Rcmusat, Madame de, letter of, to 
her husband, 103; on the death 
of the Duchess of Bei'ry's first 
child, im, 1()2, 174. 

Revolutionary party discouraged 
by the birth of the Duke of Bor- 
deaux, 271. 

Rochefoucauld, Viscount Sosthene, 
259, 261. 

Royalists under Louis XVIII., 92. 

Sainte-Avilaire, M. de, 177. 

Saint Denis, obsequies of the Duke 

of Berry at, 187 et seq. 
Sanfelice, Luigia, execution of, 4. 
Serre, M. de, 197. 
Soubriard, 143. 



Spanish war, success of, 272. 

Talleyrand, 75. 

Toulon, the Duchess of Berry at, 

48. 
Tour de La Suzette, 114. 
Trognon's Vie de Marie- Amelie, 

quoted, 9. 

Vaulabelle, M. de, 13G. 

Viel Castel, Baron de, quoted, 110, 
182. 

Villele, ministry of, 279 ; memoran- 
dum of, concerning the King's 
speech, 280; his account of an 
interview with the King shortly 
before his death, 286 et seq. 

Vitrolles, Baron de, advises the 
Count of Artois to marry again, 
176, 179; on the Countess of 
Cayla and the King, 263. 



Typography by J. S. Gushing & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 
Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston, U.S.A. 



FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE 
FRENCH COURT. 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, PUBLISHERS. 



r^URING the past two years the publishers have issued 
■*-^ translations often of M. Imbert de Saint- Amand's histori- 
cal works, relating to the momentous and agitated period dating 
from the beginnings of the French Revolution to the seating 
of Louis XVHL on the throne of his ancestors after the battle 
of Waterloo. Of these three have had as a nucleus the historic 
portion of the life of Marie Antoinette, three that of the life of 
Josephine, and four are devoted to the events centring around 
the figure of the Empress Marie Louise. The success of these 
works has been so unequivocal from the first, that the pub- 
lishers have begun the issue of the important volumes of M. 
de Saint-Amand's series relating to the period immediately 
following the Napoleonic era, the period of the Restoration. 
Of this period the author's " famous women of the French 
Court" are the Duchess of Angouleme and the Duchess of 
Berry. Like their predecessors these volumes are largely 
biographical and possess the lively interest belonging to 
personality, but, as before also, they are equally pictures of 
the times to which they relate, and are largely made up of 
contemporary memoirs and letters and original documents. 

The period itself, though on account of its proximity to 
the era of France's most stirring annals and greatest glory it 
has been overshadowed in popular imagination, is one of the 
greatest interest, and, in fact, the first two volumes largely 



FAMOUS WOMEN' OF THE FRENCH COURT. 

relate to the Imperial epoch, viewed from the side of the 
Royalist hnigris. The story of the exiled Bourbons and their 
adherents during these days has rarely been told, and 
especially novel and interesting is the account, from the inside, 
of the panic and flight of the king and his party at the time of 
the dramatic return from Elba. The exile at Ghent followed, 
then Waterloo and the second return of the Bourbons this 
time exasperated and vindictive, the trials and execution of 
General Lab^doyere and Marshal Ney, the escape of Lavalette, 
the reconstitution of society as it settled into grooves of peace 
after so many years of war, the assassination of the Duke of 
Berry, the Ministry of the Duke Decazes, and the political 
conduct of the close of Louis XVIII. 's reign. 

Of this period the Duchess of Angouleme at first and then 
the Duchess of Berry were the salient feminine figures. The 
former notably was a woman of force and influence, besides 
exercising authority as the daughter of Louis XVI. and Marie 
Antoinette, and arousing interest and sympathy for the 
sufferings of her early life when she was a prisoner in the 
Temple and was successively bereft of her father, mother, 
aunt, and brother. No children having been born of her 
marriage with her cousin, the son of the future Charles X., the 
eyes of the Court and nation were turned toward the lively and 
charming Duchess of Berry after her union with the younger 
brother of the Duke of Angouleme, the union from which 
sprang the late Count of Chambord, and the more sprightly 
and adventurous Neapolitan succeeded her graver sister-in-law 
as the centre of Court society. Of both these contrasting and 
interesting personalities, as well as of a score of others 
influential at this time, M. de Saint-Amand has drawn most 
speaking portraits, and added to the historical value of his 
books a very great biographic interest. 



FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE FRENCH COURT. 

THREE NEW VOLUMES. 

Each with Portrait, $1.25. Price per set, in box, cloth, $3.75; half calf, $7.50. 
THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE COURT OF LOUIS XVIII. 
THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE COURT OF CHARLES X. (In Press.) 
THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE REVOLUTION OF JULY 1830. (In Press.) 

The Princess Marie Caroline, of Naples, became, upon her marriage with the 
Duke of Berry, the central figure of the French Court during the reigns of both 
Louis XVI II. and Charles X. The former of these was rendered eventful by the 
assassination of her husband and the birth of her son, the Count of Chambord, 
and the latter was from the first marked by those reactionary tendencies which 
resulted in the dethronement and exile of the Bourbons. The dramatic Revolution 
which brought about the July monarchy of Louis Philippe has never been more 
vividly and intelligently described than in the last volume devoted to the Duchess 
of Berry. 



VOLUMES PREVIOUSLY ISSUED. 



THREE VOLUMES ON MARIE ANTOINETTE. 
Each with Portrait, $1.25. Price per set, in box, cloth, $3-75 » half calf, $7.50. 

MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE END OF THE OLD r'EGIME. 

MARIE ANTOINETTE AT THE TUILERIES. 

MARIE ANTOINETTE AND TnE DOWNFALL OF ROYALTY. 

In this series is unfolded the tremendous panorama of political events in 
which the unfortunate Queen had so influential a share, beginning with the days 
immediately preceding the Revolution, when court life at Versailles was so gay 
and unsuspecting, continuing with the enforced journey of the royal family to 
Paris, and the agitating months passed in the Tuileries, and concluding with 
the abolition of royalty, the proclamation of the Republic, and the imprisonment 
of the royal family— the initial stage of their progress to the guillotine. 

THREE VOLUMES ON THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 
Each with Portrait, $1.25. Price per set, in box, cloth, $3.75 ; half calf, I7.50. 
CITIZENESS BONAPARTE. 
THE WIFE OF THE FIRST CONSUL. 
THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 

The romantic and eventful period beginning with Josephine's marriage, com- 
prises the astonishing Italian campaign, the Egyptian expedition, the coup 
d^itat of Brumaire, and is described in the first of the above volumes, while the 
second treats of the brilliant society which issued from the chaos of the Revolu- 
tion, and over which Madame Bonaparte presided so charmingly, and the third 
of the events between the assumption of the imperial title by Napoleon and the 
end of 1807 including, of course, the Austerlitz campaign. 



FAMOUS WOMEN- OF THE FRENCH COURT. 

FOUR VOLUMES ON THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE. 

Each with Portrait, $1.25. Price ^er set, in box, cloth, $5.00; half calf, $ia,oo. 
THE HAPPY DAYS OF MARIE LOUISE. 
MARIE LOUISE AND THE DECADENCE OF THE EMPIRE. 
MARIE LOUISE AND THE INVASION OF 1814. 
MARIE LOUISE, THE RETURN FROM ELBA, AND THE HUNDRED DAYS. 

The auspicious marriage of the Archduchess Marie Louise to the master of 
Europe; the Russian invasion with its disastrous conclusion a few years later; 
the Dresden and Leipsic campaign; the invasion of France by the Allies and the 
marvellous military strategy of Napoleon in 1814, ending only with his defeat and 
exile to Elba; his life in his little principality; his romantic escape and dramatic 
return to France; the preparations of the Hundred Days; Waterloo and the definitive 
restoration of Louis XVIIL closing the era begun in 1789, with " The End of the 
Old Regime," are the subjects of the four volumes grouped around the personality 
of Marie Louise. 

TWO VOLUMES ON THE DUCHESS OF ANQOULEME. 

Each with Portrait, $1.25. Price per set, in box, cloth, $2.50; half calf , $5.00. 

THE YOUTH OF THE DUCHESS OF ANGOULEME. 

THE DUCHESS OF ANGOULEME AND THE TWO RESTORATIONS. 

The period covered in this first of these volumes begins with the life of the 
daughter of Louis XVL and Marie Antoinette imprisoned in the Temple after the 
execution of her parents, and ends with the accession of Louis XVIIL after the 
abdication of Napoleon at Fontainebleau. The first Restoration, its illusions, the 
characters of Louis XVIIL, of his brother, afterwards Charles X., of the Dukes of 
Angouleme and Berry, sons of the latter, the life of the Court, the feeling of the city, 
Napoleon's sudden return from Elba, the Hundred Days from the Royalist side, the 
second Restoration, and the vengeance taken by the new government on the Im- 
perialists, form the subject-matter of the second volume. 

"/^ these translations of this interesting series of sketches^ we have 
found a?t unexpected amount of pleasure and profit. The author cites 
for us passages from forgotten diaries, hitherto unearthed letters, extracts 
from public proceedings, and the like, and contrives to combine and 
arrange his material so as to fnake a great many very vivid and pleas- 
ing pictures. Nor is this all. The jjiaterial he lays before us is of real 
value, and jnuch, if not most of it, must be unknown save to the special 
students of the period. We can, therefore, cordially commend these 
books to the attention of our readers. They tvill find thetn attractive in 
their arrangement, never dull, with much variety of scene and incident^ 
and admirably translated.^^ — The Nation, of December 19, 1890. 



FAMOUS IV OMEN OF THE FRENCH COURT. 



CRITICAL NOTICES. 



" Indeed, a certain sanity of vision is one of M. de Saint Amand's charac- 
teristics. . . , He evidently finds it no difficult task to do justice to Legitimist 
and Imperialist, to the old world that came to an end with the Revolution 
and to the new world that sprang from the old world's ashes. Nor do his 
qualifications as a popular historian end here. He has the gift of so mar- 
shalling his facts as to leave a definite impression. These are but short 
books on great subjects; for M. de Saint Amand is not at all content to 
chronicle the court life of his three heroines, and writes almost more fully 
about their times than he does about themselves; but yet comparatively 
short as the books may be, they tell their story, in many respects, better 
than some histories of greater pretensions." — The Academy, London. 

"The volumes are even more pictures of the times than of the 
unhappy occupants of the French throne. The style is clear and familiar, 
and the smaller courts of the period, the gossip of the oourt and the 
course of history, give interest other than biographical to the work," — 
Baltimore Sun. 

" M. de Saint-Amand makes the great personages of whom he writes 
very human. In this last volume he has brought to light much new 
material regarding the diplomatic relations between Napoleon and the 
Austrian court, and throughout the series he presents, with a wealth of 
detail, the ceremonious and private life of the courts." — San Francisco 
Argonaut. 

"The sketches, like the times to which they relate, are immensely 
dramatic. M, Saint-Amand writes with a vivid pen. He has filled 
himself with the history and the life of the times, and possesses the art 
of making them live in his pages. His books are capital reading, and 
remain as vivacious as idiomatic, and as pointed in the translation as in 
the original French." — The Independent. 

"The last volume of the highly interesting series is characterized 
by all that remarkable attractiveness of description, historical and per- 
sonal, that has made the former volumes of the series so popular. 
M. de Saint-Amand's pictures of court life and of the brilliant men and 
women that composed it, make the whole read with a freshness that is as 
fascinating as it is instructive." — Boston Home Journal. 



FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE FRENCH COURT, 

** M. de Saint-Amand's volumes are inspired with such brigh-tness, 
knowledge, and appreciation, that their value as studies in a great 
historical epoch requires acknowledgement. Though written mainly to 
entertain in a wholesome way, they also instruct the reader and give 
him larger views. That they have not before been translated for publi- 
cation here is a little singular. Now, that their time has come, people 
should receive them gratefully while they read them with the attention 
they invite and deserve." — N. Y. Times. 

"These volumes give animated pictures, romantic in coloring, 
intimate in detail, and entertaining from beginning to end. To the 
student of history they furnish the more charming details of gossip and 
court life which he has not found in his musty tomes ; while in the novice 
they must be the lode-stone leading to more minute research. The series 
is of more than transient value in that it teaches the facts of history 
through the medium of anecdote, description, and pen portraits ; this 
treatment having none of the dryness of history per se, but rather the 
brilliancy of romance." — Boston Times. 

"■ The central figure of the lovely Josephine attracts sympathy and 
admiration as does hardly one other historical character. We have 
abundance of gossip of the less harmful kind, spirited portraits of men 
and women of note, glimpses here and there of the under-current of 
ambition and anxiety that lay beneath the brilliant court life, anecdotes 
in abundance, and altogether a bustling, animated, splendidly shifting 
panorama of life in the First Empire. No such revelation of the private 
life of Napoleon and Josephine has hitherto been given to the world as 
in ' The Court of the Empress Josephine.' It is the autho-'« master- 
piece." — Christian Union. 



For sah by all booksellers, or sent ^ postpaid o?t receipt of price, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 
743-745 Broadway, - - - - - New York. 



The First American Edition 



MEMOIRS OF 

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

By LOUIS ANTOINE FAUVELET DE BOURRIENNE 

His Private Secretary 
With 34 Full-page Portraits and Other Illustrations 

Edited by Col. R. W. PHIPPS. New and Revised Edition 



The Set, 4 Vols., 12 mo, Cloth, in a Box, $5.00 

Characteristic bindings in Half Morocco and Half Calf, specially designed 

for this work, can now be supplied 
The Set, 4 Vols., in a box, Half Morocco, gilt top, . . . $8.00 
Half Calf, " ... 10.00 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers 

NEW YORK 



FOR sixty years Bourrienne's "Memoirs of Napoleon" 
has been a standard authority to which every one 
has turned for a graphic, entertaining picture of 
the man as he appeared to his intimate friend and Secre- 
tary. Bourrienne, who had been the friend and com- 
panion of Napoleon at school, became his Secretary in 
1797 and remained in this confidential position till 1802. 
His "Memoirs" has heretofore been accessible only in 
the English editions. It is now proposed to publish 
immediately in a popular Library Edition, in four i2mo 
volumes, an exact reprint of the latest English edition. 
This American edition will contain the thirty-four por- 
traits and other illustrations of the original, together with 
all the other features that give distinction to the work — 
the chronology of Napoleon's life, the prefaces to the 



BOURRIENNE'S ''NAPOLEON. 



several editions, the author's introduction, and the addi- 
tional matter which supplements Bourriennc's work, an 
account of the important events of the Hundred Days, 
of Napoleon's surrender to the English, and of his resi- 
dence and death at St. Helena, with anecdotes and illus- 
trative extracts from contemporary Memoirs. The per- 
sonality of one of the greatest figures in history is placed 
before the reader with remarkable fidelity and dramatic 
power by one who was the Emperor's confidant and the 
sharer of his thoughts and fortunes. The picture of the 
man Napoleon is of fascinating interest. Besides this, 
the book is full of the most interesting anecdotes, hon 
mots, character sketches, dramatic incidents, and the 
gossip of court and camp at one of the most stirring 
epochs of history, taken from contemporary Memoirs and 
incorporated in the work by the editors of the different 
editions. 



List of Portraits, Etc, 



NAPOLEON I. 
LETITIA RAMOLINO 
THE EMPRESS JOSEPH- 
INE 
EUGENE BEAUHARNAIS 
GENERAL KL^BER 
MARSHAL LANNES 
TALLEYRAND 
GENERAL DUROC 
MURAT, KING OF NAPLES 
GENERAL DESAIX 
GENERAL MOREAU 

HORTENSE BEAUHAR- 
NAIS 

THE EMPRESS JOSEPH- 
INE 

NAPOLEON I. 



THE DUG D'ENGHIEN 

GENERAL PICHEGRU 

MARSHAL NEY 

CAULAINCOURT, DUKE 
OF VICENZA 

MARSHAL DAVOUST 

CHARGE OF THE CUIR- 
ASSIERS AT EYLAU 

GENERAL JUNOT 

MARSHAL SOULT 

THE EMPRESS MARIA 
LOUISA 

GENERAL LASALLE 

COLORED MAP SHOW- 
ING NAPOLEON'S DO- 
MINION 

THE EMPRESS MARIA 
LOUISA 



MARSHAL MASSENA 
MARSHAL MACDONALD 
FAG-SIMILE OFTHE EM- 
PEROR'S ABDICATION 
IN 1814 
NAPOLEON I. 
MARSHAL SOUCHET 
THE DUKE OF WELLING- 
TON 
PLANS OF BATTLE OF 

WATERLOO 
MARSHAL BLUCHER 

MARSHAL GOUVION ST. 

CYR 
MARSHAL NEY 
THE KING OF ROME 
GENERAL BESSIERES 



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